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No Way to Treat a First Lady

No Way to Treat a First Lady

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Product Info Reviews

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Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Funny, Funny Book
Review: There aren't many authors out there who can make you laugh out loud. Christopher Buckley is one. I liked everything about this book, including his smirky photograph on the back cover. It's like he just knows that you get all his inside jokes! Some of his images are very funny, like the newly sworn-in President Farkley fighting his urge to tap dance with glee during his press conference about the First Lady being indicted. He even chooses his characters' names with a tongue-in-cheek flair: Babette Van Anca, indeed! Some might say that his satire is too in-your-face obvious, too out there (like comments that this first lady is not like Hillary Clinton who only wanted to entertain ladies at tea parties and the reference to the Lincoln Bedroom being well-used), but I think he's hysterical! I look forward to reading his other books in hopes that they are just as good. Nicely done, Mr. Buckley!

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: very funny and way too close to the truth book!!
Review: This book is a great and funny novel and most definitlely going to be brushed aside by the media. It is too good to miss no matter how you feel about the Clintons!!

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Political Satire at It's Best!
Review: This book is so entertaining you will swear you're watching your favorite comedy show on TV. Buckley is one of the best political novelists of our generation. This story is brilliantly plotted, and the characters will remind you in a positive way perhaps of former White House residents. You know who I mean!

First Lady, Elizabeth Tyler MacMann, is charged with killing her philandering husband after he is found dead one night in bed. It so happens that earlier that evening he had spent time in bed with his mistress, Babette. After a bedroom spat, the first lady allegedly hurled a spittoon at him, with tragic results, or were they? Elizabeth (Beth) is put on trial for assassinating the president. Beth hires "Shameless" Baylor as her lawyer, who also had a steamy relationship with the first lady in the past. As the story twists and turns it gets funnier and more entertaining than one could ever imagine. What's to become of the First Lady? Is she really the killer or has she been set-up?

This is first-rate humor from an author who knows how to entertain his readers and keep them begging for more. What will he write next? I'm sure we will be surprised and again delighted. Enjoy this creative novel.

Joe Hanssen

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Another great satire
Review: This is a biting satire that lashes out at politics, the legal profession, hollywood and the media. Mr. Buckley pulls no punches and rarely disguises his targets. I have read two other Bucley novels; "Wet Work" and "The White House Mess". Both were very enjoyable, funny, stories. Mr. Buckley's novels are quick reads with memorable characters and tons of sharp witted barbs aimed at most anything you can think of. I can't wait for his next novel.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: "Why is that fellow laughing out loud?"
Review: Union Square Park in Manhattan is s student-ish, Left Bank kind of place, but if you keep laughing out loud at a book... people look at you sideways :-0

This is NOT yet another Clinton book, if only because utter absurdity is the defamation defense. Imagine a lawyer asking Hillary, "Are you willing to swear that reasonable people would immediately say, 'That's Hillary!'if a fictional First Lady kills her husband with a spittoon?"

In between belly laughs, I found myself _liking_ "Shameless" Baylor and his once and future lady love. Even a fictional, played-for-laughs death penalty got personal.

But don't forget the ROFL lines, as in actress, singer and Peace Activist Babbette Van Anka's given name was Gertrude Himmelfarb.

Rating: 1 stars
Summary: No Way to Treat a Reader
Review: Vulgar-filled story about a First Lady accused of assassinating her adulterous husband. Totally filled with morally repugnant characters that are extremely two-dimensional. The author is defined as a "political humorist", but there is very little humor in this effort.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Funny, Funny Book
Review: Whether you love the Clintons or hate them you have to admit, they provide some great material for novelists, especially for writers like Christopher Buckley who specialize in political farce. In "No Way to Treat a First Lady" Buckley uses some of the more sensational Clinton outrages to create a hilarious murder mystery and political lampoon that skewers politicians, lawyers, reporters, the O.J. trial, the Hollywood Left and even the Virginia State Police, just to name a few.

The decedent is no less a personage than the president himself, who dies in his sleep after being cold-cocked by a flying spittoon thrown by his wife after he returned from a midnight tryst in the Lincoln Bedroom with an amorous movie star. Sound familiar? Even if you don't subscribe to The American Spectator you might notice a few similarities to the Clintons. The first lady's name is Beth MacMann, called "Lady Bethmac" by the press, get it? There is at least one significant difference--this president was a Vietnam War hero.

The first lady is arrested for murder and the ensuing trial becomes a screwball comedy worthy of Frank Capra. I laughed out loud several times while reading this book. The following excerpt may or may not be funny depending on your sense of humor, but when President Farkley was "deploring racial profiling" because "former secretary of state Colin Powell had again been pulled over by a Virginia State Trooper and spread-eagled across the hood of his car," I laughed till I cried. Buckley has a field day with character names that are parodies of real persons, like Alan Crudmann, famous defense lawyer of the "J.J. Bronco" trial, and Damon Blowwell, the president's political director. There are many more that will be instantly recognized and some, like Dan Rather, whom Buckley doesn't bother to disguise.

The mechanics of this novel may be problematic for literary purists; in some segments it reads more like a screenplay than a literary work, and it lacks precision in the timeline and some of the medical details. But remember, it's a screwball comedy. It is also comedy with a right jab instead of a left hook. Conservatives get a little tired of being the butt of all the political jokes on TV sitcoms. Here, Buckley has fun with the icons of the left, and unless you're a seriously uptight liberal who is offended by the obvious references to the Clintons and their apologists, you should have great fun reading this book.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: If You Can't Indict the Clintons, Make Fun of Them
Review: Whether you love the Clintons or hate them you have to admit, they provide some great material for novelists, especially for writers like Christopher Buckley who specialize in political farce. In "No Way to Treat a First Lady" Buckley uses some of the more sensational Clinton outrages to create a hilarious murder mystery and political lampoon that skewers politicians, lawyers, reporters, the O.J. trial, the Hollywood Left and even the Virginia State Police, just to name a few.

The decedent is no less a personage than the president himself, who dies in his sleep after being cold-cocked by a flying spittoon thrown by his wife after he returned from a midnight tryst in the Lincoln Bedroom with an amorous movie star. Sound familiar? Even if you don't subscribe to The American Spectator you might notice a few similarities to the Clintons. The first lady's name is Beth MacMann, called "Lady Bethmac" by the press, get it? There is at least one significant difference--this president was a Vietnam War hero.

The first lady is arrested for murder and the ensuing trial becomes a screwball comedy worthy of Frank Capra. I laughed out loud several times while reading this book. The following excerpt may or may not be funny depending on your sense of humor, but when President Farkley was "deploring racial profiling" because "former secretary of state Colin Powell had again been pulled over by a Virginia State Trooper and spread-eagled across the hood of his car," I laughed till I cried. Buckley has a field day with character names that are parodies of real persons, like Alan Crudmann, famous defense lawyer of the "J.J. Bronco" trial, and Damon Blowwell, the president's political director. There are many more that will be instantly recognized and some, like Dan Rather, whom Buckley doesn't bother to disguise.

The mechanics of this novel may be problematic for literary purists; in some segments it reads more like a screenplay than a literary work, and it lacks precision in the timeline and some of the medical details. But remember, it's a screwball comedy. It is also comedy with a right jab instead of a left hook. Conservatives get a little tired of being the butt of all the political jokes on TV sitcoms. Here, Buckley has fun with the icons of the left, and unless you're a seriously uptight liberal who is offended by the obvious references to the Clintons and their apologists, you should have great fun reading this book.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: The World Needs More Books Like This...
Review: With all the contiually awful news -- and the very few humorous books -- isn't it refreshing to find an author who takes the dare to make us laugh? Buckley does it. Again! So why not relax and romp for a few hundred pages? Give yourself a break from the bad stuff and enjoy a mega-giggle.

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: Mildly Entertaining
Review: You read this book, and you keep waiting for it to get better. Not that it is bad, it is just not what his other books are - captivating. There are good parts to this book and some funny awkward moments, but it is almost like the book is trying to hard to be something that it is not - sharp satire. I know Buckley tries to be over the top but this time he was just, well.... over.


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