Wednesday, June 22, 2016

BEFORE THE FALL : A PERFECT BOOK FOR THE 2016 US ELECTION MODE.

I red Noah Hawley's novel "Before the Fall", Number 2 on the hard-cover list.  The book received some good reviews and is getting a "Bonfire of the Vanities" vibe.

Personally, I found the book totally ugly and repetitive. This America-Anno 2016 selfie is probably accurate, in this "Year of Trump":   therein, the country is vulgar, the vernacular unsophisticated, the materialism a Sino-Arab mix, the media all about shout, cover and bite,  sex Bud Light...and, Trump oblige, misogynistic.

If the purpose is to peel the unappealing Zeitgeist, the novel adheres perfectly to a landscape inhabited by Kardashians, dirty money and sub-zero culture. The reader is left with a bad hangover indeed.  This America is one of global "deportation", not only of undesirables, but also of ideas, beauty, culture, history. In this year of many Goya-like nightmares,  Hawley has found a voice, but he borrowed it from the likes of Hannity and Co.

The Trump dynasty/delusion (no chance) would like to be transformational. The United States might then emulate the model from some Emirates, who excel in nouveau riche excess and in filling or emptying the slots for cheap labor. These torched-earth policies, planned in Las Vegas-style penthouses, are merciless.

Books can be mirrors of the times they are written in. This novel could as well have been written in styrofoam.  It is not a Tom Wolfe.

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