Book Blab @ Stevenson H. S.

Review By Paul G

Brown Period 8

Nothing is as it seems in No Way to Treat a First Lady, a zany novel by Christopher Buckley. It revolves around First Lady Elizabeth MacMann who is arrested for the murder of her husband, President Ken MacMann, who was cheating on her. She hires shameless lawyer Bruce Baylor, who was her boyfriend in college before leaving him for the future president. However, he can’t decide if he wants to win, to gain fame, or lose, to get revenge. Meanwhile Babette Van Anka, the actress who the president was having an affair with, hires public relations man Nick Naylor to try to keep her name untarnished. Rounding out the cast of characters is Judge Sylvester “Dutch” Umin, a new appointee to the bench, who is the only judge in D.C. not to have a conflict of interest in the case.

One aspect of the book I really like is its use of humor. The book as a whole is an alternate history satire about what could’ve happened had Hillary Clinton killed Bill after the Monica Lewinski scandal. It is also a satire on the over coverage of celebrity trials such as those of O.J. Simpson and Paris Hilton. The use of humor here takes an already good novel and makes it great. All the characters have unique senses of humor, the strongest of which is definitely Bruce Baylor. He ranges from dry, by nonchalantly telling the First Lady that he is doing well as he “hasn’t been indicted for murder”, to the over the top, barraging a witness for using centimeters in his testimony instead of inches. A good amount of humor comes from the narrator also. For example, he seems to take a lot of time out to repeatedly remind us that Vice President turned President Harold Farkley is only “second rate”. Although some of the political satire is a bit dated, as the book was written in 2002, it is still a hilarious read for anyone who likes politics, humor, or law.