In this posthumous novel, Asinof (who died in June and is best known for Eight Men Out
) presents a cartoonish indictment of Bush-era morals with a story narrated by Kenneth Flear, a novelist-turned-English professor at a northeastern university. Flear meets an impassioned student, Anne Miner, who wants to block the commencement speech of George W. Bush at the university. Flear, a “middle-aged radical who had been mugged by time” is now reluctant to jeopardize his chances for tenure and opts not to participate in Anne’s protest. In the meantime, he is wined and dined by publishing bigwig Jonathan Purcell and finds himself attracted to Purcell’s slick moneyed world. Flear’s sense of who he wants to be is challenged when Anne interrupts commencement with an act that shocks the nation, and Purcell soon has Flear writing a smear book about Anne. What starts decently enough quickly devolves, and the narrative grows more absurd as it goes on; by the climax—at a taping of Good Morning America
at Book Expo America featuring Barack Obama, Charlie Gibson, Bill O’Reilly, Bob Woodward and, of course, Flear—well, it’s nearly impossible to suspend that much disbelief.(Oct.)
