Reviewed by: BigAl
Genre: Chick Lit
Approximate word count: 60-65,000 words
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Author:
During the
day, Dee Dawning works his day job, designing and building homes. Then he comes
home to his wife of twenty-eight-plus years, heads for bed early, and wakes up
in the wee hours of the morning to write. Dawning’s many novels and shorter
works span many genres; the only sure thing is that the action will take place
in contemporary times and have a possibility of really happening. You won’t
find any vampires or werewolves, although you’ll definitely find sex, and lots
of it – erotica is Dawning’s most frequent genre choice. For more, visit the
author’s website.
Description:
“Fed-up
with politics and the sudden right wing war on women, a group of determined
women take matters into their own hands and form a women's political party.
Initially laughed at by the established political parties, they soon change
their tune when women and some men begin signing up in droves.”
“ … a tongue-in-cheek
Political Chick-lit set in an alternate reality. It is a mainstream story, based
loosely on the Republican ‘War on Women' that would not appeal to right of center
readers.”
Appraisal:
As the
author indicates in the description, this novel is unlikely to appeal to
readers whose politics are “right of center.” Its premise is that a group of
women, upset over what the US press is calling the Republican “war on women,”
decide to combat this by starting their own political party. Quotations at the
start of each chapter are well chosen and set the stage for each chapter. Two
of my favorites might also summarize the book as a whole. The first identifies the
problem, political corruption and partisan politics, with the second hinting at
a solution.
Politics is supposed to be the
second oldest profession. I have come to realize that it bears a very close
resemblance to the first.
- Ronald Reagan
In politics, if you want anything
said, ask a man. If you want anything done, ask a woman. -
Margaret Thatcher
The
description describes this tale as “alternate reality,” and it may stretch some
readers’ ability to suspend disbelief, but approached with the right attitude
it is a fun story. One that I wish really could happen. Many of the names of
the characters and some organizations are thinly disguised stand-ins for actual
people and organizations from the real world. Talk show host Winfred Opry and
the right-leaning Wolf News are two of the most obvious.
While
overall I enjoyed the concept of the story and the actual implementation of the
concept, I had two significant issues. One was with copy editing and proofing,
which was substandard, with many issues in this area. The other was the
credibility of one particular piece of the story, where I found suspension of
disbelief impossible. Unfortunately, this was a significant error that happened
at the climax of the story. I’m being vague, to try to avoid spoilers, but it
turns on a quirk in how US Presidential elections work, and in order for the
story to happen as told it requires several experienced politicians and
political operatives as well as every major media outlet to not be aware of how
US Presidential elections are different from most elections. This alternate
reality wasn’t far enough from our real world to make that credible. While
still largely an enjoyable read to imagine “what if,” this marred the ending
for me.
FYI:
Some adult
language.
Format/Typo Issues:
A large
number of proofing and copy editing issues. These run the gambit from homonym
issues (you’re/your and were/we’re) to extra and missing words, typos, and
capitalization errors (for example Democrat and Republican were consistently not capitalized).
Rating: ** Two stars
4 comments:
The Republican's "War on Women" is fiction to begin with, so I guess this story has no possible basis in reality. I am unable to suspend disbelief in the premise alone and will not be reading this book. Thanks for the honest review, Al.
You, comenter, must be a Rep. Man. No self-respecting woman would say that. I like my rights where they are, thank you. You cannot tell me that the "life" of what is technically cancer cells (a zygote) is more important the the person carrying it. I consider it alive when it's viable to live without biological life support.
I understand the rage this book is based on, but the writing ability wasn't there.
You assume a lot, fellow anonymous commenter, and you know what what they say about "assuming." I'm a self-respecting woman who believes that the "War on Women" is a red herring used by the Democratic Party to pull focus from a weak economy and weak foreign policy. This "War on Women" is a very real thing in other parts of the world (the Middle East) and it's an insult to the oppressed, persecuted women in that region of the world to claim that there's a "War on Women" in the U.S.A.
Really? A human fetus is a "cancer?" It sounds to me as though rage is part of your mental/emotional makeup. Don't blame the Republicans for it.
I'm channel surfing looking for Wolf News. It sounds like a good program, fair and balanced.
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