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A review by book_concierge
Thank You for Smoking by Christopher Buckley
3.0
A political satire skewering the tobacco, alcohol and gun lobbyists, the media, and the politicians who all have a role in public policy regarding these “legal vices.”
Nick Naylor is the chief spokesman for the Academy of Tobacco Studies, an organization funded entirely by the big tobacco producers. As such, he is frequently vilified, and the target of threats. His boss, BR, and his chief rival at the Academy, Jeanette (who happens to be the boss’s “main squeeze”) seem to be trying to angle him out of his job. But when he goes on Oprah, he becomes a hero to “The Captain,” and the golden boy of the Academy. Next he’s on Larry King Live where he is, once again, subject to irate callers, including one very specific threat on his life.
He shrugs this off, but he does commiserate with his friends Bobby Jay (spokesperson for the gun lobby) and Polly (spin control for alcohol industry) – collectively calling themselves the Mod Squad (for Merchants of Death). He also begins a relationship with sympathetic reporter Heather Holloway. Still the industry wants to ensure their golden boy is safe, so the Captain assigns him heavy duty security. When Nick ditches them, he finds himself kidnapped in the lobby of his own office building, tied and blindfolded, taken to a remote location, and covered in nicotine patches before being unceremoniously dumped on the National Mall and left for dead. Then the fun REALLY begins.
The story is somewhat dated today, but as political satires go it’s fast-paced and quite funny in places.
Nick Naylor is the chief spokesman for the Academy of Tobacco Studies, an organization funded entirely by the big tobacco producers. As such, he is frequently vilified, and the target of threats. His boss, BR, and his chief rival at the Academy, Jeanette (who happens to be the boss’s “main squeeze”) seem to be trying to angle him out of his job. But when he goes on Oprah, he becomes a hero to “The Captain,” and the golden boy of the Academy. Next he’s on Larry King Live where he is, once again, subject to irate callers, including one very specific threat on his life.
He shrugs this off, but he does commiserate with his friends Bobby Jay (spokesperson for the gun lobby) and Polly (spin control for alcohol industry) – collectively calling themselves the Mod Squad (for Merchants of Death). He also begins a relationship with sympathetic reporter Heather Holloway. Still the industry wants to ensure their golden boy is safe, so the Captain assigns him heavy duty security. When Nick ditches them, he finds himself kidnapped in the lobby of his own office building, tied and blindfolded, taken to a remote location, and covered in nicotine patches before being unceremoniously dumped on the National Mall and left for dead. Then the fun REALLY begins.
The story is somewhat dated today, but as political satires go it’s fast-paced and quite funny in places.