Scan barcode
jennatandy28's review
4.0
I really enjoyed reading this book. It was funny and had great social commentary.
craycray81's review
4.0
This book is satire at its finest.
The story follows anti-hero Nick Naylor, a lobbyist for the tobacco industry. Nick is trying to convince the world that smoking isn’t as dangerous as we were all led to believe. But can Nick convince himself? Will a dangerous threat convince him otherwise?
The movie has a cast of all-star actors, and while several characters and events from the book were left out, I feel like the movie was good enough to stand on its own. Even if the ending was less satisfying than the book. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
The story follows anti-hero Nick Naylor, a lobbyist for the tobacco industry. Nick is trying to convince the world that smoking isn’t as dangerous as we were all led to believe. But can Nick convince himself? Will a dangerous threat convince him otherwise?
The movie has a cast of all-star actors, and while several characters and events from the book were left out, I feel like the movie was good enough to stand on its own. Even if the ending was less satisfying than the book. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
berniemorgan's review
4.0
Liked this book - for me it was not as good or as funny as some of his others, but well worth a read nevertheless
toffishay's review against another edition
funny
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
3.75
arlenemccann's review against another edition
4.0
i really dig this author... i might read everything he wrote.
he's a little nuts. and yet really cynical, human, and ridiculously intelligent and ridiculous in general. i love it. my kind of sick fuck.
he's a little nuts. and yet really cynical, human, and ridiculously intelligent and ridiculous in general. i love it. my kind of sick fuck.
laurabrantreads's review
4.0
What no one wants to believe - everything is a business and money is a big motivator that supersedes morality even though we like to think it doesn't. Hilarious.
debellsk's review
5.0
I was pleasantly suprised to find this book quite different from the movie. When I started reading it, I was okay with the fact that I was probably just reading the same story as the movie. Yet while they both start out the same, the ending in the book is completely different. I would suggest this book to anyone who enjoy the movie. It had the same witty dialogue, except even more because you get to hear all of the inner thoughts of Nick Naylor. The ending was a little hokie, with Nick writing a book about his story(of course, title "Thank You For Smoking") and campaigning for SmokeFree. I though this was a little much, but otherwise, this book was an excellent read.
kristinerenehan's review
3.0
after finishing this book, i can only infer that christopher buckley has an emotional issue.
monty_reads's review
4.0
When it comes to naming our best contemporary satirists, the default response usually (and accurately) settles on Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert. The Onion, too, and certainly anything Armando Iannucci (The Thick of It; In the Loop; Veep) creates. But I never hear Christopher Buckley's name mentioned, which is a shame. He's made a career out of skewering various American power structures – the stock market, the justice system, the State Department, etc. – and I'm glad that I finally got around to reading Thank You for Smoking,, which has to be his best work to date.
Here, Buckley sets himself the herculean task of turning Nick Naylor, the tobacco industry's chief spokesman, into a sympathetic character. No easy feat when Naylor regularly appears on Oprah and Larry King Live to tout the health benefits of smoking and then follows it up by meeting his counterparts in the alcohol and firearms lobbies for dinner – an unofficial social club which they've named "The Mod Squad" (short for Merchants of Death).
But somehow Buckley manages to make Naylor a character worth rooting for. He accomplishes part of this by making Naylor smart and funny and sort of "aw, shucks" about his own duplicity – a genial fellow who can't help but make up statistics about how nicotine slows the onset of Parkinson's. But the bigger part is that he makes Naylor a victim – first of his boss (who's an even bigger asshole than Nick), then of a kidnapper, then of the FBI who suspect Nick in his own abduction. Because Nick seems like such a decent guy, who can't help but feel sorry for all the stuff he's going through, even while he's paying off a celebrity lung cancer victim to stop speaking out against the tobacco industry (a thinly-veiled Marlboro Man, who actually did die of lung cancer in 1992).
The whole thing is pitch-black and very, very funny. Take this advice, which Nick gives his 12-year-old son:
'"The important thing is...is to feel tired at the end of the day.' Aristotle might not have constructed an entire philosophy on it, but it would do. True, Hitler and Stalin had probably felt tired at the end of their days. But theirs would not have been a good tired."
If acidic commentary is your thing and you don't know Buckley's work, start here and don't look back.
Here, Buckley sets himself the herculean task of turning Nick Naylor, the tobacco industry's chief spokesman, into a sympathetic character. No easy feat when Naylor regularly appears on Oprah and Larry King Live to tout the health benefits of smoking and then follows it up by meeting his counterparts in the alcohol and firearms lobbies for dinner – an unofficial social club which they've named "The Mod Squad" (short for Merchants of Death).
But somehow Buckley manages to make Naylor a character worth rooting for. He accomplishes part of this by making Naylor smart and funny and sort of "aw, shucks" about his own duplicity – a genial fellow who can't help but make up statistics about how nicotine slows the onset of Parkinson's. But the bigger part is that he makes Naylor a victim – first of his boss (who's an even bigger asshole than Nick), then of a kidnapper, then of the FBI who suspect Nick in his own abduction. Because Nick seems like such a decent guy, who can't help but feel sorry for all the stuff he's going through, even while he's paying off a celebrity lung cancer victim to stop speaking out against the tobacco industry (a thinly-veiled Marlboro Man, who actually did die of lung cancer in 1992).
The whole thing is pitch-black and very, very funny. Take this advice, which Nick gives his 12-year-old son:
'"The important thing is...is to feel tired at the end of the day.' Aristotle might not have constructed an entire philosophy on it, but it would do. True, Hitler and Stalin had probably felt tired at the end of their days. But theirs would not have been a good tired."
If acidic commentary is your thing and you don't know Buckley's work, start here and don't look back.