A review by bookcrazyblogger
The Body Politic by Brian Platzer

3.0

The Body Politic is an interesting yet confusing novel that follows Tess and David, a married couple, along with Angelina and Tazio, a recently engaged couple. Tess, who has a history of severe trauma (having watched her father murder her mother) is a chronic cheater while David, who was trying to fix his marriage before the events of the novel begin, has had a debilitating fall which appears to have sparked an invisible chronic illness. The two of them have been best friends with the charismatic, alcoholic Tazio who has previously worked on the Edwards campaign and the Hilary campaign yet has a crisis of identity when both of his candidates lose. Angelica, his fiancé, has never allowed herself to get close to the married couple but when Tazio runs off, she begins to rely on the couple to help her through her own traumatic experience. I loved Angelina’s storyline, as it mirrors mine to the T. I felt sympathy with Tess as well, battling being a mother of 2 small children while going through a sever depression bout and becoming the primary caretaker of her family. I didn’t like the male characters in this novel at all. I thought they were selfish, weak men who were handed continual opportunities and they just threw said options away. I liked this novel but I felt like the storyline could have been pushed farther than it was.