No Way to Treat a First Lady: A Novel
by Christopher Buckley
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Book Summary Information
Author: Christopher BuckleyEdition: Paperback
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language); English (Published)
Published: 2003-10-14
ISBN: 0375758755
Number of pages: 288
Publisher: Random House Trade Paperbacks
Book Reviews of No Way to Treat a First Lady: A Novel
Book Review: An easy, enjoyable, insightful read
Summary: 4 Stars
I have a hard time laughing with written material; maybe my senses have been dulled by too much television and movies. Be that as it may, Christopher Buckley's satires are perhaps the only novels that have me laughing out loud, and they do so consistently. The formula is familiar and effective: essentially his novels revolve around the image problems of the rich and the powerful in Washington, D.C. and in a world where image is everything, they will go to impossible lengths to protect theirs. Buckley's novels seem exaggerated, but only at first glance: one has only to crack a newspaper and scan the 'Washington' or 'Politics' section to see that our elected officials and their money launderers are capable of the most logic-defying, morality-trampling maneuvers to save their skins. Someone has said that human folly is the essence of comedy, and if so, then Beltway politics, bursting with the former, must be a goldmine for the latter. As Christopher Buckley has proved again and again.
I'd have to agree with reviewers who say that this is an unusually plot and character-driven novel for Buckley. It centers around the assassination trial of former First Lady Beth McMann, after the Commander in Chief is found dead in his bed with the clear imprint of Paul Revere's spittoon in his forehead. The circumstances are suspicious enough to convince at least 75% of the American people that Beth is guilty. In her desperation, she turns to the most infamous and successful trial lawyer in the country, Boyce "Shameless" Baylor, for help. The wrinkle is that Beth had stood Boyce up in order to marry a sort-of dashing Naval hero who became the Commander in Chief. Will he help her now for old times' sake, or will he take this opportunity to exact revenge on her by subtlely throwing the case? Throw into the mix unscrupulous journalists who screw for stories, a CIA defector to China looking to embarrass his former employer, an inept judge, an assistant D.A. out for blood and a clueless starlet bimbo and you've got yourself a good few hours of solid, comic entertainment.
Buckley's characters in this novel are unusually well-drawn and compelling. Beth struggles to project an image of stability and poise as the whole country is gunning for her, while Boyce is still sore over her rejection and is putting his reputation on the line as well in defending her. Secondary characters, including a wimpy, perpetually second-place vice president who suddenly gets the opportunity of a lifetime when the president dies, are also compelling enough, with one exception: Nick Naylor (what is it with Buckley and alliterative names that end in '-aylor'?), the savvy spinmeister from "Thank You For Smoking" has a cameo here as the head of Babette Van Anka's PR campaign, but he doesn't really have much to do and comes across as rather flat and uninteresting.
The thing I like most about Buckley's writing is that his comic zingers sneak up on you. One minute you're reading dry, perfectly straightforward prose and suddenly the words of a particularly apt and humorous turn of phrase form in your mind and you can't help but chuckle involuntarily. Right on the first page Buckley had me going when he reveals that the President referred to his extra-marital escapades as "Congress in session". As any reader of Buckley will know, such references pepper his novels, a large part of their appeal. I also greatly admire Buckley's powers of verisimilitude in describing Beltway dealings. I don't know where he gets his information, but somehow his narration of even the innermost dealings of top politicians seems completely plausible.
All in all, an easy but entertaining and insightful read, perfect if you want to laugh at our nation's political shenanigans. And at a time like this, how could you not?
Summary of No Way to Treat a First Lady: A Novel
A New York Times Notable Book of the YearElizabeth Tyler MacMann, the ambitious First Lady of the United States (and known in the tabloids as ?Lady Bethmac?), is on trial for the death of her philandering husband, and the only man who can save her is the boyfriend she jilted in law school?now the most shameless defense attorney in America. Published to rave reviews, No Way to Treat a First Lady is a hilariously warped love story for our time set in the funniest place in America: Washington, D.C.
Christopher Buckley is not so much a novelist as a free-ranging satirist looking for targets. In Thank You for Smoking it was big tobacco and earnest reformers; in God Is My Broker it was business and religion; and in No Way to Treat a First Lady, it's the entire legal profession, not to mention the Washington establishment. The novel opens with the President of the United States returning to the conjugal bed after an illicit Lincoln Bedroom romp with the Streisandesque Babette Van Anka. His wife, the long-suffering Beth McMann, promptly clocks him with a Paul Revere spittoon. Several hours later he dies. "Lady Bethmac," as the First Lady is immediately dubbed by the media, is put on trial, and the resulting media circus gives Buckley lots of opportunity for nicely observed skewerings of legal culture. "Judge Dutch creaked forward in his chair. This is the source of the aura of judges: they have bigger chairs than anyone else. That and the fact that they can sentence people to sit in electrified ones. It's all about chairs." He gets in some neat neologisms--a lawyer performs a "credibilobotomy" on a witness--and sends up the pretensions of law TV: at a roundtable discussion, the guest from Harvard Law is invited "to provide gravitas and to shift uneasily in his seat when the other guests said something provocative." Buckley's Trial of the Millennium is so far-fetched that it seems entirely possible. --Claire Dederer
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