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stevenanteau 's review for:
The Last Election
by Stephen Marche, Andrew Yang
I really liked this book, but I've never wavered on a 3.5 more than this.
Your enjoyment of this book will depend mainly on your "politics junkie" status, your support of Andrew Yang, and your partisanship.
The Last Election is the story of the last year of the 2024 election cycle with a third-party candidate, Cooper Sherman, upending the system. The chapters are separated by several weeks and highlight important moments of the campaign cycle: Media appearances, Super Tuesday, the debates, etc., and in between are significant events hinted at but rarely seen or explained.
In the background, there is a military conspiracy to overthrow the constitution and a reporter sitting on the story. Cooper's campaign managers and staff, a right-wing "problem solver," a tech billionaire, and others make up the window dressing to make the book move page by page.
I'll start with the general eye rollers and failures of the book.
The characters are not defined much at all. One wants a baby, but that's all we know. None of the campaign staff seem to have lives outside of hoping to save democracy. Cooper himself is as out of touch and hopeful as any actual candidates. The most interesting character is the right-wing mobster who drinks, commiserates, and tells his life story to prostitutes.
The assassinations, bombings, and street wars happen in the background, like on a news channel crawl. It felt like I was reading half, or even one-third, of a book. A chapter would end with an explosive, shocking act of violence, then jump forward 6 weeks, and it would never be mentioned again outside of some quip about the "rise in violence."
There are some NAUSEATING depictions and conversations about sex that add nothing to the book and come at the most ludicrous moments. Running from a gang of black-clad vigilantes would not get me horny, but maybe I'm the weird one. It all comes out of left field and exists in a vacuum, rarely acknowledged again.
Now, the good.
The book is fanfiction of how Andrew Yang wished his campaign had gone. It felt authentic like the authors were pulling from actual events. Bundling, campaign events, lobbying, navigating news scandals, etc., all rang authentic from experience.
The rise in violence and the reaction will be over the top until we see it happen in the real world, but it didn't seem that outlandish. Just the 2020 election turned up one degree more. The downward spiral of the country felt believable and rooted in policy. The news interviews and use of the natural world made it easy to visualize and feel.
The story is a page-turner, and I read this in just 3 sittings. It moved fast and made me wish there was a sequel or a midquel to fill the gap, telling the story from another character's POV.
I would recommend this to anyone who is into the news, and if you're a Yang fan, it is Tailor-made for you.
I will have to drop it to a 3-star but a 4-star if you are the target demographic.
Your enjoyment of this book will depend mainly on your "politics junkie" status, your support of Andrew Yang, and your partisanship.
The Last Election is the story of the last year of the 2024 election cycle with a third-party candidate, Cooper Sherman, upending the system. The chapters are separated by several weeks and highlight important moments of the campaign cycle: Media appearances, Super Tuesday, the debates, etc., and in between are significant events hinted at but rarely seen or explained.
In the background, there is a military conspiracy to overthrow the constitution and a reporter sitting on the story. Cooper's campaign managers and staff, a right-wing "problem solver," a tech billionaire, and others make up the window dressing to make the book move page by page.
I'll start with the general eye rollers and failures of the book.
The characters are not defined much at all. One wants a baby, but that's all we know. None of the campaign staff seem to have lives outside of hoping to save democracy. Cooper himself is as out of touch and hopeful as any actual candidates. The most interesting character is the right-wing mobster who drinks, commiserates, and tells his life story to prostitutes.
The assassinations, bombings, and street wars happen in the background, like on a news channel crawl. It felt like I was reading half, or even one-third, of a book. A chapter would end with an explosive, shocking act of violence, then jump forward 6 weeks, and it would never be mentioned again outside of some quip about the "rise in violence."
There are some NAUSEATING depictions and conversations about sex that add nothing to the book and come at the most ludicrous moments. Running from a gang of black-clad vigilantes would not get me horny, but maybe I'm the weird one. It all comes out of left field and exists in a vacuum, rarely acknowledged again.
Now, the good.
The book is fanfiction of how Andrew Yang wished his campaign had gone. It felt authentic like the authors were pulling from actual events. Bundling, campaign events, lobbying, navigating news scandals, etc., all rang authentic from experience.
The rise in violence and the reaction will be over the top until we see it happen in the real world, but it didn't seem that outlandish. Just the 2020 election turned up one degree more. The downward spiral of the country felt believable and rooted in policy. The news interviews and use of the natural world made it easy to visualize and feel.
The story is a page-turner, and I read this in just 3 sittings. It moved fast and made me wish there was a sequel or a midquel to fill the gap, telling the story from another character's POV.
I would recommend this to anyone who is into the news, and if you're a Yang fan, it is Tailor-made for you.
I will have to drop it to a 3-star but a 4-star if you are the target demographic.