Boomsday | 
|  | | | Title: | Boomsday | | Author: | Christopher Buckley | | Publisher: | Twelve | | Type: | Book / Paperback | | Publication Date: | 16 May, 2008 | | ISBN / ISBN-13: | 0446697974 / 9780446697972 | | List Price: | $13.99 | | You Save: | $2.80 | | Amazon Price: | $11.19 | |
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Product Description
BOOMSDAY'S heroine is Cassandra Devine, a charismatic 29-year-old blogger who incites massive political turmoil when, outraged over mounting Social Security debt, she politely suggests that Baby Boomers be given government incentives to kill themselves by age 75. Her modest proposal catches fire with millions of her outraged peers ("Generation Whatever") and an ambitious Senator seeking to gain the youth vote in his presidential campaign.
With the help of Washington's greatest spin doctor, the blogger and the politician try to ride the issue of euthanasia for Boomers (they call it "Transitioning") all the way to the White House, over the forceful objections of the Religious Right and, of course, Baby Boomers, who are deeply offended by demonstrations on the golf courses of their retirement resorts.
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Customer Reviews:
• Thoroughly Enjoyed It! 10 August, 2008
I Just finished it and thoroughly enjoyed it. The same author of "Thank You for Smoking" wrote this and as expected, Christopher Buckley's writing style is witty, acerbic and full of irony.
The protagonist is Cassandra Devine, a PR spin-doctor by day, incensed blogger by night. Angered by the burden posed upon her generation by the social security system, she proposes, a very Swift-like solution. Dubbled, "Voluntary Transitioning" program, it purports to alleviate the social security debt by rewarding people to commit suicide when they reach the age of 65 (if you are a closet geek like me, you'd remember a "Sliders" episode that featured the same concept).
This page-turner made me laugh out loud. Although it got a bit long towards the end, I highly recommend it.
- Reviewed by customer ID: A1P90SLP9G9LAJ
• Very Entertaining... 01 August, 2008
I enjoyed BOOMSDAY quite a bit. This is political satire at it's best. It provides a lot of laughs, and as ridiculous as some of the scenarios in the book seem, no doubt things like this go on everyday.
I do agree with other reviewers who say that the ending was a bit anti-climatic. Although I don't have a problem with the ending in general, I definitely expected something more. Still, all in all, a very entertaining book.
- Reviewed by customer ID: A1YBVBU27AKJ1J
• Killing Yourself For The Good Of Your Country 15 August, 2008
Will the financial security of the US government depend on a large chunk of its citizenry killing themselves?
My only experience with Buckley before this was seeing the film "Thank You For Smoking." That was enough. I picked up this book on a whim, and it contained even more quick witted cynicism and pitch dark satire than I could have dreamed.
Buckley starts "Boomsday" realistically enough, and as he introduces more elements of quasi draconian politics, the plot spirals out of control and becomes patently absurd. But the best part about it is that somehow, it still seems like all of it could actually happen, which is both scary and hilarious.
The sharp dialogue reminded me of Aaron Sorkin's "The West Wing," only everyone is a lot more pessimistic and sardonic. I imagine Sorkin and Buckley to be like the tiny angel and demon consciences from 90s tv shows on each shoulder, except instead of telling me what to do, they are explaining US politics to me in humorous anecdotes and complicated vocabulary.
"Boomsday" is easily one of the most enjoyable books I've read this year.
- Reviewed by customer ID: A3DB3OU9ZPIMAS
• Insanely Hilarious 26 September, 2008
"Boomsday" is the hilarious satirical novel from Christopher Buckley who brought us, "Thank You for Smoking." After having read a few of Buckley's previous novels I certainly had high hopes for "Boomsday" and to my delight, was not disappointed. Buckley's sense of humor is truly border line wicked, but yet ingenious.
Following the lives of a public relations spinster, her boss and Senator and future presidential hopefully, the plot of the novel is so ridiculous that it becomes a brilliant spectacle.
Cassandra Devine, public relations whiz by day and blogger by night sets loose a wild suggestion to deal with the country's massive Social Security debt. Devine, in her Red Bull blogging haze, proposes that the baby boomers aka, Social Security guzzlers, receive government incentives to commit suicide at age 75. As Devine's radical idea catches on with Generation-X, the entire country goes wild, spurring a presidential race nearly defined by the Social Security crisis.
Buckley sets out to tackle the very real issue of Social Security of our generation, making "Boomsday" our modern answer to Jonathan Swift's "A Modest Proposal."
Buckley is able to highlight the circus of Beltway insider politics in a way that is scarily accurate and ludicrous at the same time. His ability to conquer political satire will leave you sore from laughing the entire way through this novel. If you are a fan of humor, then read this book, you will surely not be disappointed. I highly recommend it.
- Reviewed by customer ID: A1JJ3GTUVN0U4X
• Almost Too True To Be Funny - But It Still Is 08 September, 2008
With the bottom dropping out of the economy and bad news coming from every direction, Chris Buckley's satire on similar times sparking a youth uprising against the Baby Boomers - whose retirement after a life of self-indulgence threatens to bankrupt the nation - is almost too true to be funny. Happily, it still is funny. Buckley has great comic chops.
Protagonist Cassandra Devine is a twenty-something PR woman in Washington, bitter over losing a chance to go to Yale because her father invests her college tuition in a dot.com IPO. Forced to join the Army instead, she becomes a scandal queen when, guiding blue-blooded (and headline-seeking) Congressman Randy Jepperson through Bosnia, he drives their Hummer into a minefield. The ensuing scandal gets her kicked out of the military.
Jepperson tries to make it up to her, giving her a job on her Congressional staff, and from there she gets hired by his PR man. She spends her nights blogging about Social Security. And she becomes an overnight sensation when she suggests the government balance the budget by offering tax and inheritance incentives to Baby Boomers willing to commit suicide at age 70. Youths riot in Florida, trashing golf courses and gated communities at her suggestion.
Jepperson, now a senator, sees her platform as his ticket to the White House, while the president, up for re-election, plots with her own father - now a dot.com billionaire - to politically destroy her. A leader of the Christian right fights this appalling insult to life. Political chaos ensues. Great fun.
- Reviewed by customer ID: A1TWH3KD5YJQHM
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