Rating: 
Summary: UFO Conspiracy Theories are a Conspiracy Theory!
Review: SURGEON GENERAL'S WARNING: Fluids ingested while reading this book could forcefully exit the mouth and nostrils, causing embarassement and high dry cleaning bills. The incontinent should take care to carefully fasten their Depends before opening this book! OK, so I thought I was the only one who thought that UFO Conspiracy theories were a conspiracy concocted by the military-industrial complex to divert attention from our military unreadiness (far better to believe that UFO's were invading our airspace than the Russians) and also to prop up support for funding for space and defense. But then I read the same thing in Sagan's _Demon Haunted World_ and then saw it on the X-Files. And now here in Little Green Men. That's the premise of the book, where our anti-hero, sulking over a lack of a promotion in the super-secret MJ-12 program (he wanted a transfer to fly the fun aircraft out in Area 51, but instead he's stuck abducting chubby and bored midwestern housewives), contravenes orders and abducts a pompous DC-area talk show host John O. Banion (no relation to me :-). One of the mandarins of the DC social circuit, Banion is used to mixing it up with aging socialites, Ambassadors, Cabinet Secretaries, and Presidential confessor/power broker Vernon Jordan types. All that changes after Banion goes public with his abduction story. Though his social group changes to the decidedly lowbrow, Banion also becomes very popular, commanding a movement of millions of people. Banion soon becomes a pawn in the MJ-12 conspiracy as well as Presidential re-election politics (it's left as an exercise to the reader to determine which of these two institutions is the kookier). The story is well-plotted, so it keeps your attention very well, and the characters are surprisingly well-developed for a farce. And if you're looking for sheer side-splitting humor, I don't think you could do much better. No doubt some of this is extra-funny because I actually live here, but I know that anyone who reads this book will annoy friends and relations with their constant chuckling and belly laughs.
Rating: 
Summary: Surprisingly funny comedy of personal folly!
Review: Christopher Buckley deserves a slap on the back about this book, along with congratulations. The premise of this book - a hard-core conservative political columnist "abducted" by "aliens" and forced into a life of conspiracy theory - is hilarious, and Buckley does a great job expanding upon it.
I had a few problems with the setting, in that it takes place before the millenium, but certain events happen that can only occur after Clinton's presidency. It does help certain events in the story, however, so it isn't a big complaint.
There aren't any other complaints I can think of. I recommend this book to fans of political humor and fans of conspiracy theory humor.
Rating:
Summary: Worth Reading
Review: 3-stars = worth reading. This book starts out strong andprovocative with recognizable characters and a unique premise. Itwould have been nice if Buckley put a little more into the build-up of the main character and, ultimately, the writing becomes a little slow and thin, which is unfortunate because there are many great moments.
Rating:
Summary: Worth Reading
Review: 3-stars = worth reading. This book starts out strong and provacative with recognizable characters and a unique premise. However, it would have been nice if Buckley put a little more into the build-up of the main character. The paperback version that I read had several type-o's - something I have never experienced before.
Rating: 
Summary: I loved it!
Review: Wow! I laughed, I screamed, I loved it. The characters are real, I swear that I know these people. I haven't read a book this well written in a very long time. I highly recommend this book.
Rating:
Summary: RK Put Down Your Dictionary
Review: Robert Konrath, please put down your dictionary - your review was more verbose (wordy) than any book I've ever digested (read).
Rating: 
Summary: Hardly biting satire
Review: I am far from an expert on political satire, but I found Little Green Men tepid at best in its attempt to poke fun at the D.C. establishment. The opportunity to mock the self-important detail that Tom Clancy provides in his books is lost here. As far as political satire goes I will stick with my good friend, Al Franken.
Rating:
Summary: Well worth the price of admission
Review: This is my first foray into Buckley's novelistic oeuvre. In this book, his humor is erudite and incisive, and he nails perfectly the oscillating gargantuan/craven personality make-up of the Washington politico and his Mini-Me, the "media wonk." I found the characters and dialogue ideal vehicles for the highly spirited farce the book purveys. This novel is something of a cross between Dave Barry's "Big Trouble" and Tom Wolfe's "Bonfire of the Vanities." Buckley does to the Washington Establishment what Barry does to the mixed up milieu that's South Florida and Wolfe to Wall St.'s Masters of the Universe. This book is more urbane than Barry's but less "literary" than Wolfe's. I found the plot a bit harder to follow in the second half than in the first. All in all, though, the book's an exceedingly well-written yet funny and easy read.
Rating:
Summary: Funny ha ha
Review: CB returns to form here (after laying the egg "God Is My Broker"), picking up where "Thank You For Smoking" left off. Very often howlingly funny (see p. 119), I particularly enjoyed decoding the thinly veiled Foggy Bottom entities: Burt Galilee as Vernon Jordan, Ample Ampere as General Electric, Erhardt Williger as Hank Kissinger. Basically, we have a PompousMan, single-mindedly circling the sun of his own colossal ego, when his orbit gets blown away by a doomsday asteroid he never saw coming. (Well, I guess I'LL never be a writer.) Anywho, it's the great fun of watching somebody, who REALLY deserves it, get leveled. My only quibble is with the ending, which seems to fizzle out, perhaps inevitable after the bombastic construct that precedes it. I hope Chris goes after the TV evangelists next. THAT would be delicious.
Rating:
Summary: In your face, Carl Sagan!
Review: This is a thriller that truly keeps you guessing right until the end. Mr. Buckleys' true talent lies in his ability to create characters who enhance the story on both a symbolic and an intellectual level. Other characters, such as the giant talking crab in chapter 8, provide the fulcrum on which to balance the novel's central metaphor. Execellent book. I'd recommend it to all of my patients.
| 
