Pretty Random, But Good Random......

This doesn't feel much like a novel with a beginning, a middle, and an end. Rather, reading this book is sort of like watching a standup comedian work out the bugs in his new material. Some of it is sharp, tight, and right on. Some is a little too long and unfocused and needs to be tightened up. Some of the bits just don't work, and some are killer. That was fine by me because when Buckley is on he's really on and there are loads of laugh out loud moments here.

In a way this book reads more like a loosely linked anthology of short humor pieces. Bits like the Proust takedown are brutally funny, and most of the funniest rants are just popped into the novel out of nowhere and for no reason related to the plot. This is probably for the best since the plot itself is inane and not especially engaging.

So, since humor is currently in short supply and topical humor is virtually nonexistent, I was happy to watch Buckley riff and improvise and fool around and fine tune his stuff. Sometimes plot is just a thin excuse for numbering the pages.

(Please note that I received a free advance 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.)