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goosemixtapes's review against another edition
3.0
two real-life pieces of information: i received this book as a birthday gift from a very close friend, and while i was reading it, white nationalists stormed the capitol.
so. uh. you could say i have some mixed feelings about this one that are maybe a little informed by current us politics?
look, i knew going in that this was going to be a little "orange in the white house" liberal comedy, yknow. and it is - trump is a bumbling idiot, as is most of the rest of his staff/family; there's some vague glorification of pelosi and AOC (and some vague mockery of bernie sanders); the political views taken are pretty... y'know. "fascism bad, racism bad, liberty and justice good" which. yeah fair. plus there were some legitimately good jokes (mar-iago and "i verily don't care. do u" stand out as things that made me genuinely laugh)
i just think... i wish it had gone further? bc it's a genuinely well-written play (the fact that the authors did this whole thing in iambic pentameter. damn) but i feel like the analysis of politics / the country currently is very shallow and surface level. and okay, you are saying, but max, it's a comedy, that's literally the point. it's harmless fiction meant to make people who hate trump laugh. and i do get that. but recent political events (i again would like to point out: The Capitol Was Stormed) have made me... less and less interested in that kind of comedy. because i feel like we are at the point (and maybe we always were) where "haha trump eats mcdonalds and putin has him on a leash" jokes don't do justice to the actual real harm this man has caused in the world and that he continues to cause even now, with less than a week left in his term. i get the urge to mock him. i do. but donald trump is a genuinely dangerous person who has genuinely ruined & ended lives through his policies and platforms and positions. and that makes this kind of comedy hard to swallow. whether or not "pox network" never stopped being a little funny
so. uh. you could say i have some mixed feelings about this one that are maybe a little informed by current us politics?
look, i knew going in that this was going to be a little "orange in the white house" liberal comedy, yknow. and it is - trump is a bumbling idiot, as is most of the rest of his staff/family; there's some vague glorification of pelosi and AOC (and some vague mockery of bernie sanders); the political views taken are pretty... y'know. "fascism bad, racism bad, liberty and justice good" which. yeah fair. plus there were some legitimately good jokes (mar-iago and "i verily don't care. do u" stand out as things that made me genuinely laugh)
i just think... i wish it had gone further? bc it's a genuinely well-written play (the fact that the authors did this whole thing in iambic pentameter. damn) but i feel like the analysis of politics / the country currently is very shallow and surface level. and okay, you are saying, but max, it's a comedy, that's literally the point. it's harmless fiction meant to make people who hate trump laugh. and i do get that. but recent political events (i again would like to point out: The Capitol Was Stormed) have made me... less and less interested in that kind of comedy. because i feel like we are at the point (and maybe we always were) where "haha trump eats mcdonalds and putin has him on a leash" jokes don't do justice to the actual real harm this man has caused in the world and that he continues to cause even now, with less than a week left in his term. i get the urge to mock him. i do. but donald trump is a genuinely dangerous person who has genuinely ruined & ended lives through his policies and platforms and positions. and that makes this kind of comedy hard to swallow. whether or not "pox network" never stopped being a little funny
madamegeneva's review against another edition
3.0
This is such a clever book oh my god. The subtle one liners and the comedic stage directions just make this a brilliant book. I didn’t feel it was so amazing as to give it 4 stars, but it definitely gets a solid 3/3.5. Genius.
madoc_mattox's review against another edition
1.0
DNF I tried to read this, nothing against the story, just turns out this isn't my style of writing/reading. The jokes and sarcasm seemed funny but the play format is difficult for me to be engaged in.
calistareads's review against another edition
4.0
I have fun reading Ian's work that he turns into plays in the Shakespearian style. He knows his Shakespeare for certain and he's so good writing in verse. Politics and Shakespeare go very well together. The histories or all about political intrigue and the War of the Roses.
Ian takes the first 2 years of the Trump presidency and turns this into a political game. Desdivanka is a Machiavellian mob boss in this practically. It really would be fun to see this put on stage. Trump is old and so MacTrump in the book is in constant need of a bathroom. Mctweet is a character that will tweet out messages to the kingdom. Rudy is the fool in this called Fooliani. All the names of people are changed into more Shakespeare characters names. One of the best is Stephen Miller is Gargamiller. There are lords and ladies and political fighting. It really does work very well I thought.
I will say, I am so tired of hearing about all this and I'm ready for it to just go away. Still, this is a new spin and it is funny and clever. My favorite line is: MacTrump says, "Thou art as useless as a Bible in a whorehouse." That tickled me. There are so many good references in here and Ian always pulls in famous Shakespeare quotes. AOC/Cleosandria gets the line = Friends, Romans(was changed), Countrymen, lend me your ears. I love getting those lines we know throne in. He will also throw in things people say in real life or tweets, even. It's very well done.
If a second part comes out, I will have to read that too. I've about read all Ian's stuff. I have a few more left.
Ian takes the first 2 years of the Trump presidency and turns this into a political game. Desdivanka is a Machiavellian mob boss in this practically. It really would be fun to see this put on stage. Trump is old and so MacTrump in the book is in constant need of a bathroom. Mctweet is a character that will tweet out messages to the kingdom. Rudy is the fool in this called Fooliani. All the names of people are changed into more Shakespeare characters names. One of the best is Stephen Miller is Gargamiller. There are lords and ladies and political fighting. It really does work very well I thought.
I will say, I am so tired of hearing about all this and I'm ready for it to just go away. Still, this is a new spin and it is funny and clever. My favorite line is: MacTrump says, "Thou art as useless as a Bible in a whorehouse." That tickled me. There are so many good references in here and Ian always pulls in famous Shakespeare quotes. AOC/Cleosandria gets the line = Friends, Romans(was changed), Countrymen, lend me your ears. I love getting those lines we know throne in. He will also throw in things people say in real life or tweets, even. It's very well done.
If a second part comes out, I will have to read that too. I've about read all Ian's stuff. I have a few more left.
books_tea_healthy_me's review against another edition
4.0
MacTrump is a fantastic, entertaining piece of political parody. The best political parody. There is no other political parody that comes close to the amazingness of Mactrump. It puts all other political parodies to shame. Bigly.
Thank you to NetGalley and Quirk Books for my copy of MacTrump in exchange for my honest review.
Thank you to NetGalley and Quirk Books for my copy of MacTrump in exchange for my honest review.
daphne2000's review against another edition
4.0
I would have finished this so much sooner but I forgot it at school over winter break and then I had a ton of work to do for the new semester. So don’t take how long this book took me to finish as a sign of dislike -- I actually really enjoyed it! I just had to read it in small chunks since the Shakespearean language kind of puts me to sleep.
This was a lot funnier than I expected. I wasn’t audibly laughing all the time, but I did chuckle here and there. I really enjoy political comedy so I am definitely the target audience, but I think anyone that is fairly knowledgeable on the major events of Trump’s presidency will find something to laugh at.
This book definitely feels like it is flitting from major-event to major-event and is lacking in terms of a plot. The last act was really strong and tied some things together, but the first half felt very fragmented and was probably the worst part of the book. Since the last quarter was so strong I’m super excited for part 2 (if it ever gets published)!
This was a lot funnier than I expected. I wasn’t audibly laughing all the time, but I did chuckle here and there. I really enjoy political comedy so I am definitely the target audience, but I think anyone that is fairly knowledgeable on the major events of Trump’s presidency will find something to laugh at.
This book definitely feels like it is flitting from major-event to major-event and is lacking in terms of a plot. The last act was really strong and tied some things together, but the first half felt very fragmented and was probably the worst part of the book. Since the last quarter was so strong I’m super excited for part 2 (if it ever gets published)!
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