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Book Summary InformationAuthor: Christopher Buckley Edition: Hardcover Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language); English (Published) Published: 2008-09-03 ISBN: 0446579823 Number of pages: 285 Publisher: Twelve
Book Reviews of Supreme CourtshipBook Review: Pepper wouldn't change her core values..skip this. Plot a "no way" Summary: 1 Stars
Over the past few years, I have become a fan of Buckley and the fun he has had at the expense of political absurdity. I am a confessed reader of heavier fair both fiction and non-fiction and enjoy the time out his lighter books always provide for a good laugh. After sitting on three separate juries over the years, watching the law rob our household blind from my husband's child support payments to a crazy ex --as we supported said child--, and studying the idiocy I remember from all my business law classes, I count myself among the folks that don't find the law and especially lawyers to be at all funny. Still, I was hopeful a new book from CB would fill the humor vacuum. The first few chapters had me laughing out loud. The female court TV babe was a girl after my own heart. She is smart, acerbic, and pretty down to earth. Pepper was a gal I could believe in and like. That is, until the plot development disaster. I hate to second guess an elitist like Chris and since I am a state university grad living in a western suburb of Cleveland, I am sure I don't have the right Yale grad, blue blood-member of who knows who in Manhattan credentials to question such a skilled observer of society et all. It is worth noting, however, that in Texas/Ohio..we see things from a moral perspective that helps to interpret the law. Mostly, those of us bumpkins from flyover land (tightly toting our guns and oh yes religion while we secretly hide our racist roots) would never have supported letting a criminal whose gun malfunctions during a crime sue the gun manufacturer. No Latin or French needed to help us understand the wrongness implied with the supposed Supreme Court ruling the book derives the proceeding story from. Even in real life they don't get it that wrong (except maybe Roe vs. Wade but there I go again being predictably simplistic and obtuse). The elitist know everythings can interpret the law to justify this stupidity but us common sense nut jobs would give this a big thumbs down..no high level interpretation of the law needed. The TV babe would not desert her roots to be accepted by the elites and mass media. Her grandfather would have been proud in the real world..she never would have sold out. Whole plot is based on a real "no freakin' way, dude". I also admit to being offended at his over the top portrayal of Pepper's dad gone Crazy Evangelist Preacher. Note to Chris: the stereotypical Jimmy Joe Bob saving lives and raising $$$ for Jesus (read preying on the poor and unenlightened) is so been there done that. At this point, it is just condescending. Check out the movie "The Apostle" with my hero Robert Duvall. Some authenticity actually exists in the faithful masses. An author should not be so transparent with their daddy rebellion diatribe. Maybe, Mr. Buckley, faith matters. Maybe, your dad had a few points about religion that should not be so easily dismissed. I was pretty irritated with this not-so-fun read and found the writing simplistic and the plot clunky. Perhaps I read this from my perspective of "tired of you insiders making fun of my moral compass and values living here in Ohio not in the beltway." Conceivably, that is because it is the author's intended tone. I think CB should try again in a few years and take more time writing his next (hopefully) funny satirical novel. Skip this and try something else from this usually consistent author. (loved Boomsday and Florence of Arabia)
Summary of Supreme CourtshipPresident of the United States Donald Vanderdamp is having a hell of a time getting his nominees appointed to the Supreme Court. After one nominee is rejected for insufficiently appreciating To Kill A Mockingbird, the president chooses someone so beloved by voters that the Senate won't have the guts to reject her -- Judge Pepper Cartwright, the star of the nation's most popular reality show, Courtroom Six.
Will Pepper, a straight-talking Texan, survive a confirmation battle in the Senate? Will becoming one of the most powerful women in the world ruin her love life? And even if she can make it to the Supreme Court, how will she get along with her eight highly skeptical colleagues, including a floundering Chief Justice who, after legalizing gay marriage, learns that his wife has left him for another woman.
Soon, Pepper finds herself in the middle of a constitutional crisis, a presidential reelection campaign that the president is determined to lose, and oral arguments of a romantic nature. Supreme Courtship is another classic Christopher Buckley comedy about the Washington institutions most deserving of ridicule. (2008) In bestselling author Christopher Buckley's hilarious novel, the President of the United States, ticked off at the Senate for rejecting his nominees, decides to get even by nominating America's most popular TV judge to the Supreme Court. President Donald Vanderdamp is having a hell of a time getting his nominees onto the Supreme Court. After one nominee is rejected for insufficiently appreciating To Kill a Mockingbird, the president chooses someone so beloved by voters that the Senate won't have the nerve to reject her--Judge Pepper Cartwright, star of the nation's most popular reality show. Will Pepper, a vivacious Texan, survive a Senate confirmation battle? Will becoming one of the most powerful women in the world ruin her love life? Soon, Pepper finds herself in the middle of a constitutional crisis, a presidential reelection campaign that the president is determined to lose, and oral arguments of a romantic nature. Supreme Courtship is another classic Christopher Buckley comedy about the Washington institutions most deserving of ridicule. Amazon.com Exclusive An Essay from Christopher Buckley Somewhere in this brilliant, hilarious, impossible-to-put-down--to say nothing of moderately priced--new book of mine, the narrator notes that appointing a Supreme Court justice is pretty much the most consequential thing a president can do, short of declaring nuclear war; more to the point, that this fact is generally pointed out every four years by whoever is running second in the presidential election. The Supreme Court is by any definition the most important branch of government. Who else has the power to say--without fear of being contradicted by someone higher up the food chain--"Congratulations, you just won the presidential election, even though the other guy got more votes!" Or, "We really feel awful about this, but you have to be lethally injected tonight at midnight."? If you're on the Supreme Court, you are the top of the food chain. I've written satires about other Washington institutions. It never occurred to me to try one about the Supreme Court, for the reason that I never found it particularly funny. It was my editor, Jonathan Karp, who suggested it, and if the book turns out to be a stinkeroo and bombs, I am going to petition the Court to have him lethally injected. At some point, while scratching my noggin and trying to come up with some way into a satire about the Marble Palace, I scribbled on a legal pad (how appropriate is that?): Judge Judy on the Court. I called Karp and ran it past him. He laughed, which I always take as a good sign, since he doesn't laugh at 99 out of 100 of my genius ideas. My Judge Judy is a sexy Texan named Pepper Cartwright. She was an actual judge before she became a TV hottie. How, you ask, did she get on the Court in the first place? Well, it all starts on page one where--did I mention how moderately priced the book is? --Christopher Buckley
Political Books
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