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A review by katykelly
Thank You For Smoking by Christopher Buckley
5.0
Smokin'! One of the funniest books I've read in a long time.
I saw this on a library shelf and remembered how much I'd enjoyed the film a few years ago. The book is definitely worth reading too.
Very dark humour, it's the sort of funny that might make you spit out your tea. Who would have thought that lung cancer, gun death and fetal alcohol syndrome could be so hilarious...
Nick Naylor is Big Tobacco's spokesman - the man whose job it is to make them look good, to suck up criticism and spin it into a positive. He's very good at his job. After work, he relaxes with his two associates - spokespersons for the Alcohol industries and Gun Lobbies respectively. Called the Mod Squad (Merchants of Death), they support each other as much as comparing the number of deaths their employers are responsible for on an annual basis.
If you are easily offended, this may not be for you.
This is completely crazy - we are rooting for a man trying to get teenagers to start smoking!
The whole book manages to mock a whole host of industries and employers. One of my favourite moments involved the answerphone message of the Washington Post:
"If you feel you have been inaccurately quoted, press one...If you are a confidential White House source and are calling to alert your reporter that the President is furious over leaks and has ordered a review of all outgoing calls...press five."
Watching Nick at work, on TV and in the media is at once outrageous and brilliant. His verbal dexterity is admirable, even if few people reading this will agree with his arguments.
The story takes a few twists and turns, involving an unidentified person gunning for Nick, a threat on his life, some suspicious FBI agents and an attempt to get cigarette smoking into a major Hollywood film.
If you enjoy slightly tasteless but incredibly witty reads involving morally suspect men - look no further. Just brilliant.
I saw this on a library shelf and remembered how much I'd enjoyed the film a few years ago. The book is definitely worth reading too.
Very dark humour, it's the sort of funny that might make you spit out your tea. Who would have thought that lung cancer, gun death and fetal alcohol syndrome could be so hilarious...
Nick Naylor is Big Tobacco's spokesman - the man whose job it is to make them look good, to suck up criticism and spin it into a positive. He's very good at his job. After work, he relaxes with his two associates - spokespersons for the Alcohol industries and Gun Lobbies respectively. Called the Mod Squad (Merchants of Death), they support each other as much as comparing the number of deaths their employers are responsible for on an annual basis.
If you are easily offended, this may not be for you.
This is completely crazy - we are rooting for a man trying to get teenagers to start smoking!
The whole book manages to mock a whole host of industries and employers. One of my favourite moments involved the answerphone message of the Washington Post:
"If you feel you have been inaccurately quoted, press one...If you are a confidential White House source and are calling to alert your reporter that the President is furious over leaks and has ordered a review of all outgoing calls...press five."
Watching Nick at work, on TV and in the media is at once outrageous and brilliant. His verbal dexterity is admirable, even if few people reading this will agree with his arguments.
The story takes a few twists and turns, involving an unidentified person gunning for Nick, a threat on his life, some suspicious FBI agents and an attempt to get cigarette smoking into a major Hollywood film.
If you enjoy slightly tasteless but incredibly witty reads involving morally suspect men - look no further. Just brilliant.