Rating: 
Summary: He's more like Tim Russert
Review: Did Christopher Buckley say Banion's character was based on George F. Will? Banion seems more like a Tim Russert or Sam Donaldson. The book is great! It made me laugh out loud several times!
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Summary: Hilarious look at the netherworld of conspiracy theorists
Review: Unlike Christopher Buckley's "The White House Mess" and "Thank You for Smoking", "Little Green Men" is a book that goes beyond Washington into the world of paranoia that is the modern-day UFO/abductee movement. Much has already been written about the transparent nature of the Will/Banion character, but there are other Washington heavies being satirized here, particularly Vernon Jordan as a fixer more concerned with protecting his long-term power base than any short-term friends. Not to mention Pamela Harriman, Strom Thurmond, and a few others (such as a few shots at Buckley's arch-nemesis Tom Clancy, both under Clancy's real name and at a Clancy-like character with a quite off-color name). Buckley's work is clearly the product of a lot of in-depth research. Those familiar with UFO lore will recognize the Stanton Friedman (the goateed nuclear physicist), Budd Hopkins, Shirley MacLaine, and Colonel Phillip Corso characters, though Friedman is portrayed as much more diabolical (plus Buckley mixes in a bit of Jim "face on Mars" Hoagland). He understands the fringe of the UFO movement quite well (Linda Howe, under her real name, and her obsession with supposedly alien-caused cattle mutilations provide numerous comic moments). I found myself laughing quite frequently throughout this book, because Buckley knows his both his central topic as well as the power game that is played in Washington. Without spoiling the plot, I can say that Buckley posits a comically realistic (if untrue) scenario where the abductees aren't all crazy and there aren't any greys or Nordics running around grabbing people off the road and invading their nether regions. The book climaxes with an OJ-style trial, with a Gerry Spence character representing the defense. Among the highlights are the explanatory footnotes, some of which are useful, others of which are comic. For instance, recounting an attempt to smear a witness by implying that a murder victim had a copy of a porno mag called "Juggs", Buckley adds the following footnote: "* A glossy magazine devoted to large-breasted women, begun as a color insert in the Atlantic Monthly". For those liberals out there, relax, none of Buckley's novels push any sort of conservative agenda and all three may be read by those across the spectrum without any concern about the politics inherent in the book. Read this book. You won't go wrong. Then go to your library and find "The White House Mess", a strangely prescient set of White House memoirs written 6 years before anybody ever heard of George Stephanopoulos.
Rating: 
Summary: Very good, but no Thank You For Smoking (or GodIsMyBroker)
Review: LGM is funny and suspenseful, but for some reason, this one didn't seem as good as previous efforts. I think it is because the lack of a sympathetic character really hurts. In "Smoking" and "God Is My Broker," you rooted for the characters (even the evil spin doctor, Nick Naylor in "Smoking"). But in LGM, we have a parody of George F. Will, sans Will's good traits. Even as parody, the novel soon deviates so strongly from Will's actual personality that you must accept the main character on his own terms. Oddly, he seems to be some sort of amalgamation of a host of pundits, most of whom are really not interested in politics or society, but instead in their own wealth and hobnobbing. The plot is clever and the action fast, but I think satire works better when ultimately the story is believable (Bonfire of the Vanities) or short (God Is My Broker). It has been said that farce always outstays its welcome. Definitely, this novel is worth your time if you like Buckley, but it isn't one to reread, as is "Smoking." Good effort, though!
Rating:
Summary: This is one of the funniest books I have ever read.
Review: Buckley is wonderful in his humor and sense of the washington beltway craziness. His wit is remarkable.
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Summary: Worth reading if you hate George F. Will
Review: It would be hard for a novel to be as cleverly written and plotted as Buckley's first book, "Thank You for Smoking," and "Little Green Men" isn't. Though Christopher Buckley's command of vocabulary ("chthonic") is reassuring and his parody of George F. Will as the main character is welcome, his caricatures of Washington life get predictable and kind of boring after awhile. I am so impressed by Buckley's wit in general and his ability to carve out a separate life from his evil father that I will continue buying his books as they are published. Reading "Little Green Men," however, gave me the feeling that he knows what his audience likes -- self-referential humor -- and is coasting on his existing reputation. I hope that he will stretch himself and not just become the yuppie neoconservative WASP equivalent of old Catskills comedians, chugging out the same stuff for decades to come.
Rating:
Summary: Grade A humor, B- plotting
Review: Really, this is one of the funniest works of fiction I've read in a while. But a story idea this wonderful should have a real whiz-bang finish... and this doesn't. (Same problem I had with Thank You For Smoking, in fact.) Not that the book is bad -- I enjoyed it immensely, ending and all. It just wasn't as intensely satisfying as is promised by the first 100 pages. Wait for the paperback, then grab it.
Rating:
Summary: Brilliant!
Review: Buckley The Younger is one of the best results of Guttenberg's invention
Rating: 
Summary: Clever plot does not make up for undeveloped characters
Review: Mr. Buckley delivers a clever story, but fails to fully develop potentially entertaining secondary characters the way Carl Hiaasen does. Additionally, Mr. Buckley's use of "SAT" words does not add to the plot, rather, it is distracting in the way an over-eager student in class might be. One can't help but think that Mr. Buckley is trying to live up to his father's famous vocabulary. However, his transparent inclusion of famous Washington icons adds a tantalizing bit of masked non-fiction to this political comedy (is Strom Thurmond really a perv?), and the protagonist of this tale, John Banion, is an interesting if not sympathetic composite of our favorite Sunday talk show hosts. Overall, Mr. Buckley deserves an "E" for effort.
Rating:
Summary: Outstanding!
Review: The funniest book I've read since, well, since "Thank you for Smoking". This is a real writer's book as well, containing such prose as this: "Jamison's untimely death at the age of eighty-eight, after stepping on a garden rake, was treated by the establishment as the end of an era" To me that sentance alone is worth the book price, and there are many more to follow.
Rating: 
Summary: Great Book!!
Review: This book just dazzled me!
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