0. No Way to Treat a First Lady

NO WAY TO TREAT A FIRST LADY 

by Christopher Buckley

(I started this one in 2011, but finished it just after the New Year.)

Long/short: the first lady wakes up next to her dead husband, the philandering president of the US of A. All surface evidence points to her as the murderer, or her actions. Enter: lawyers, comedy, inept media & courtroom satire. Result? Hilarity.

Christopher Buckley has made a name for himself as a witty novelist, and many of you appreciate his wry stylings even if you aren't aware: the film Thank You For Smoking was based off of his book of the same name. It surpasses the film, as most "based on" books do, and was my first introduction to his sharp pen.

NO WAY TO TREAT A FIRST LADY (NWTTAFL?) is the third book I've read by Buckley and very obviously influenced by the Clintons' dynamic. Though the deceased president in question isn't exactly Bubba (he has a distinguished military career, more reminiscent of JFK), first lady Elizabeth MacMann is a slightly less ambitious version of dear Hillary. He sweeps her off her feet in law school (stealing her away from another lawyer-to-be, Boyce Baylor), they marry, but his pants don't drop just for her.

The book concerns itself with the investigation into the president's death (a subdural hematoma caused by a hurled spittoon, the hurler being Elizabeth) and the media frenzy surrounding the trial. Each trial chapter is an exercise in good comedy, be it slapstick, dumb humor or the crisp, dry barbs that we expect from a good PG Wodehouse (though sauced up a bit more, as this is America). Baylor is brought in to represent former lover Elizabeth, creating a winning dynamic in all of their chapters. Nick Naylor, protagonist of Thank You... returns here as a public relations guru for the fading starlet who fooled around with the president the night he died.

And of course you have a scheming Vice President-now-President, looking to smear Elizabeth in any way possible, a mainstream media more concerned with the degree of the first lady's guilt than if she even is guilty and an all-too gullible public. It's reality!

NWTTAFL is a quick read, less than 300pp, and a fun distraction from our current political shenanigans. You'll remember a time when the biggest hooplah was over a stain on a dress, as opposed to losing cases of guns, a guttering economic recovery or foreknowledge of a terrorist attack.

Knowledge of Washington, DC., politics or policy is not needed. We've all seen the news, suffered through media circuses over "trials of the century/millennium/epoch." And we can all use a good laugh.

4/5

-Erik