Be Patient

This is a very funny book, but it takes a little while for the engine to get warmed up and running smoothly.

We start out in prison, because this is a first person prison memoir by a disgraced political operative. Our narrator is going to explain how he, a simple political speech writer, ended up in prison. The setup is fairly common for political satires, and early on the humor is a bit forced and heavy handed, with the author seeming to be trying too hard to be funny and engaging. But wait. This doesn't turn into farce or strident political bashing, and once we get past establishing the frame it turns very funny and sharp.

Our hero narrator takes us first to his childhood and a David Copperfield variation on the story of his life. This is brief, but introduces us to a wide eyed, ambitious, but fundamentally decent kid who has his hat set on a life in politics and serving the public good by showering the country with noble Churchillian rhetoric. At this point the book becomes edgy, clever, unpredictable, and darkly comic in unexpected ways. Can you have whimsical and smart dark comedy? That's what you get here. And once that tone is set we quickly find ourselves in the seats of government with what turns out to be a witty, acerbic, and very perceptive, explicitly anti-"West Wing", vibe. What started out as a broad farce becomes a very focused, insightful, wry, and often surprisingly touching story of disillusion and madcap political foolery.

The whole "how I ended up in prison" angle is cumbersome and probably couldn't carry the book if that's all you got. But the lion's share of the book consists of one-off stories and set pieces. Many of these bits actually deserve to be described as "hilarious". It's all exaggerated for story-telling effect, but that's fine and it works. These scenes and pieces are held together with narration that's on the dry, wry, and deadpan side, which helps it all come together. Dialogue is crisp, smart, and witty, so you do get "West Wing" after all. And don't forget the footnotes and marginalia from our narrator's cellmate - a brutal felon with keen editorial acumen.

So, when so much current political satire has become heavy-handed, bitter, dreary, or just overcome by the absurdity of actual reality, this book manages to chart a path that is amusing, entertaining, illuminating, and oddly wistful. That said, and I suppose it's unavoidable given current conditions, there is an underlying thread of dread and darkness that emerges sometimes, which gives the book a surreal and occasionally disconcerting aspect that sometimes sharpens up the humor, but sometimes also sets the tone at cross purposes. I was O.K. with that approach, but it does make this book more than just a satirical laugher.

(Please note that I received a free ecopy of this book without a review requirement, or any influence regarding review content should I choose to post a review. Apart from that I have no connection at all to either the author or the publisher of this book.)

The Speech Writer is funny in the dry, dark, cynical way that can be so hard to capture on the page. It kept me laughing and cringing in turn and I thoroughly enjoyed darkly funny stories that could have been ripped from the headlines. It’s absurdity does’t comes from the wild stories about the intrigue of politicians, but rather through sharp satire that highlights how close many of the outlandish scenarios mirror reality. I will definitely be recommending this to friends and family.

This book was a cross between Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas (with a hyperbolic narrator), meets Catcher in the Rye's stream of consciousness story telling, mixed with Australian politics and drug use. There's a story, but it's a bit confusing, and while funny, there are some strange combination of events that made certain sections unbelievable. And yet... I couldn't out right dismiss this book as too much.


I received this arc of The Speech Writer for free in return for my honest review. This review is based on my opinion.