No Way to Treat a First Lady

by Christopher Buckley

Book Overview

A book about first ladies This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0375507345
• ISBN13: 9780375507342
• Release Date: October 2002
• Publisher: Random House (NY)
• Length: 304 Pages
• Weight: 1.20 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.0" x 6.4" x 9.3"

Customer Reviews

Laughed so hard I cried

It's a cliché, but true! I immensely enjoyed "No Way to Treat a First Lady", and found myself chuckling almost constantly throughout, laughing out loud many times, and laughing uncontrollably on several occasions. If you read this book in public, as I did, be prepared to receive disapproving glances from others who aren't having as good a time as you are.No Way skewers the Washington political scene, the legal profession, the media, and in particular the Clinton scandals and the O.J. Simpson trial. But ultimately, like all great satire, it is really a no-holds-barred look at our current societal mores and norms.The main characters in No Way are all composites, which is how Christopher Buckley is able to construct a storyline that departs from the actual events it is satirizing, but is still fully recognizable by anyone who followed the news in the late 1990s. You'll enjoy picking out references to Bill and Hillary Clinton, Barbra Streisand, Marc Rich, Alan Dershowitz, and of course Monica - plus many others. Even Nick Naylor, the hero of Buckley's "Thank You for Smoking", has a bit part in No Way.I've read most of Buckley's books, and No Way is right up there with his best. I'd put "Thank You for Smoking" first by a hair, followed by No Way, then "God is My Broker". Thank You is slightly more timeless, as No Way's humor will dissipate somewhat with time, as people's recollections of the Clinton years fade.Christopher Buckley can legitimately lay claim to being America's top working satirist. Keep them coming, Mr. Buckley, sir!

"Why is that fellow laughing out loud?"

Union Square Park in Manhattan is s student-ish, Left Bank kind of place, but if you keep laughing out loud at a book... people look at you sideways :-0This is NOT yet another Clinton book, if only because utter absurdity is the defamation defense. Imagine a lawyer asking Hillary, "Are you willing to swear that reasonable people would immediately say, 'That's Hillary!'if a fictional First Lady kills her husband with a spittoon?"In between belly laughs, I found myself _liking_ "Shameless" Baylor and his once and future lady love. Even a fictional, played-for-laughs death penalty got personal.But don't forget the ROFL lines, as in actress, singer and Peace Activist Babbette Van Anka's given name was Gertrude Himmelfarb.

About As Funny As It Gets!

My suspicion is that those who did not like this book are admirers of our 42nd President and that the underlying conduct of the First Lady's husband is a bit too Clintonian for them. Too bad, because this book takes on Washington political types, celebrity lawyers, the press, the fickle American public, and "trials of the century" and in the process spins as good a piece of satirical humor as I have read in some time. Trust me, it is a book you will look forward to reading and hate putting down. Go for it.

Laugh Out Loud Funny

Buckley does it again! What a funny book. He artfully skewers lawyers, politicians, and the media. I couldn't put it down.

Satire at its best

Leave it to Christopher Buckley, with his loquacious sarcastic prose, to come up with a novel that is funny and filled with depravity. With the nefarious president and his saintly wife- not to mention the dumb blondes and the insidious lawyers, his latest is a delight to consume. I will reccomend it for my book club.