One of America’s most hilarious novelists and the bestselling author of Thank You For Smoking returns with a biting comedy about generational warfare.
Outraged over the mounting Social Security debt, Cassandra Devine, a charismatic 29-year-old blogger and member of Generation Whatever, incites massive cultural warfare when she politely suggests that Baby Boomers be given government incentives to kill themselves by age 75. Her modest proposal catches fire with millions of citizens, chief among them an ambitious senator seeking the presidency. With the help of Washington’s greatest spin doctor, the blogger and the politician try to ride the issue of euthanasia for Boomers (called “transitioning”) all the way to the White House, over the objections of the Religious Right, and of course, the Baby Boomers, who are deeply offended by demonstrations on the golf courses of their retirement resorts.
After a slightly slow start during which Buckley introduces his characters, provides them with motive and generally lays the groundwork, Boomsday develops into a mischievously farcical tangled-web of generational warfare and political backstabbing, set against the background of the failing Social Security system and the general collapse of the American economy. (Reviewed by BookBrowse Review Team).
New York Observer - Charles Taylor
There can be no astonishment in writing when the main goal is to convey to the reader that the writer is onto everyone else’s bullshit, above being surprised by any of it. Like a mom making sure all the kids get the same number of cookies, Mr. Buckley carefully parcels out his jibes among left and right.
Houston Chronicle - Allen Barra
Since Social Security is the most boring subject in the world, we probably owe Buckley some kind of debt for putting the subject in front of us in the form of a highly readable novel with flip-page howlers. But the idea that such a movement could be a hot-button issue in a presidential race is so silly that Boomsday's momentum begins to dissipate before the midway point.
The Washington Times - Sonny Bunch
Mr. Buckley's complete and utter contempt for his generation is startling and hilarious. "You know what the Boomer concept of sacrifice consists of?" Cass asks her boss (who just so happens to be a Baby Boomer himself). "Three-day ground instead of overnight air delivery on your fifty inch plasma screen high-def TV."
Chicago Sun-Times - Roger K Miller
The ideal review of a Buckley novel would consist simply of a string of his witty, biting, insightful comments and dialogue (politicians, he says, are "born with Original Spin"), and if that's what this turns out to be, don't blame me, blame Buckley's wicked sense of humor. Still, we must take note of the equally funny plot, which is as convoluted as Social Security financing and as outrageous as mass suicide.
The New York Times - Janet Maslin
Bingo. Again. Mr. Buckley has a worrisomely tough time laying the groundwork for this premise, but his idea soon yields the exquisitely dizzy, Wodehouse-style mischief that is his specialty.
Library Journal
Though the plot loses steam toward the end, the premise is original, the dialog crackles, and Buckley doesn't disappoint in the humor department.
Booklist - Donna Seaman
Starred Review. With delectable, smart-talking characters and a devilishly clever story line, prizewinning humorist Buckley...has created a scrumptiously shrewd and hilarious political satire that takes bold measure of the newly widening generation gap and politics even worse than usual.
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The Social Security Act
was signed into law by
President Roosevelt on
August 14, 1935.
In the 1960s the age
when men were eligible for
retirement benefits was
lowered to 62 and health
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beneficiaries aged 65 or
older.
One in six Americans (45
million) receives a Social
Security benefit, almost 1
in 3 beneficiaries are not
retirees.
About 98% of all workers
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Social Security.
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(955 words).
New York Observer - Charles Taylor
Houston Chronicle - Allen Barra
of 5
by Breanna Farrell
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