This book challenges its prospective reader with an impressive 638 pages; each page of text is of 47(!) close-spaced lines (compare to 39 lines per page in a 1999 ppbk of Sebastian Faulks’ “Charlotte Gray”, and 23 lines per page in a 2005 ppbk of Frank Beddor’s “The Looking Glass Wars”. How long, I wondered, would it realistically take to actually read this American metaphorical behemoth? I ploughed straight in and made something of a pig’s ear of the first twenty or so pages. What chance had I of acquiring sufficient familiarity of the vast cast of characters? Who was who, who was related to whom, and what were their politics and personal political motivations? Too many W’s! Leaving aside that the US Senate is no Houses of Parliament, space race and all, how exactly did the late 1950s US Washington political machine function? Yet almost without realising it, I found myself 75 pages, or so, in, lapping up the plot, politics, and totally happily immersed in the tantalising waltz of competitive Washington political intrigue, foreign ambassadorial stooges (the pastiche British ambassador & his wife were just hilarious), senatorial gladiatorial combat, a decidedly unlovely President, and a delightful general array and disarray of senators’ wives and children. I began to love this book. The length of time between page turns ensured that my concentration remained firmly fixed on what was rapidly becoming a compulsive read; and less and less on the distractive act of physically moving paper from right to left. How perfectly the plot caught, turned, and held aloft the ego and brute motivation, explicit and implicit, of those who are reeled into into politics. The storyline began to take hold of me. Hours regularly approached midnight. I struggled to lay the book aside & turn out the bedside light. Indeed I dared not read during hours of daylight; just another page … just another page … other jobs set aside, left undone.Others have sketched the plot of this novel; it is needless that I should repeat them. In the edition I read there was also a very good outline printed on the page immediately before the Title page. Instead, I look to the bookmarks I placed on lines that notably drew my attention. Memorable expressions, oratory well worth learning by heart, such as: “His face of a very old angel who had taken a detour through hell looked even more raddled than usual today, …” (p.99). My thoughts instantly went to sheep! “… it was a hum-dinging, rip-snorting, hell-raising sockdolager and then some.” (p.120). “sockdolager” is a US word, defined by Merriam Webster as something that settles a matter: a decisive blow or answer. Saying it aloud brought forth such a wonderful sound! “…the reporters faithfully jotted down their words in newsmen’s shorthand in the hope they might be as colourful as Seab’s [President Pro Tempore of the Senate]. They weren’t.” (p.120). Hope dashed. So true to life. “As for honour, it honours me, but far more must I honour it. On that, the way is clear: I shall honour it by what I do, or I shall honour it not at all.” (p.185). “I just want to say, though, that this strikes me as peculiar. The witness has explained everything except what I asked him to explain and he has been applauded for it repeatedly in spite of your ruling about demonstrations. Don’t people really understand what is going on here?” (p.222). The last sentence nails recognisably typical human wisdom-after-the-event hypocritical (or ignorant) behaviour. “Because he was his father’s son, many doors were automatically opened to him; because he was himself, he walked through them with ease, gathering friends and supporters everywhere he went.” (p.302). Sage advice. “Things were breaking too fast on this gorgeous spring morning, and there was no place for the majority Leader of the United States Senate to be expect right spang in the United States Senate,” (p.330). Doesn’t ‘spang’ (an American word) just LIFT that sentence? “A bargain between desire and custom, dream and reality, wish and career, sex and society? We all make bargains in some way. You have to.” (p.358). “Both were guilty of concealment, both were guilty of lying to the world, both had protected their reputations as best they could, and both had been discovered.” (p.463). “…This was the ere, domestically, when everything was half done; the era, in foreign affairs, when nothing was done right because nobody seemed to care enough to exercise the foresight and take the pains to see that it was done right. This was the time when the job on the car was always half finished, the suit came back from the cleaners half dirty, the yardwork was overpriced and underdone, the bright new gadget broke down a week after you got it home, the prices climbed higher and higher as the quality got less and less, and the old-fashioned rule of a fair bargain for a fair price was indeed old-fashioned, for it never applied to anything.” (pp.501-502). Events both in the 1970s and the present day come to mind; let that be a warning to us all today! “… the enormous vitality of free men, running their own government in their own way. If they were weak, at times, it was because they had the freedom to be weak; if they were strong, upon occasion, it was because they had the freedom to be strong; if they were indomitable, when the chips were down, it was because freedom made them so.” (p.614). “Indomitable” is truly a word to be cherished and a quality to be sought and bred-in. I can imagine (I haven’t looked) that Rudyard Kipling would use such a word.Clearly here is a book not to be rushed. I look forward to repeated readings bringing forth subtleties that I have undoubtedly overlooked this first time through. This Collins hbk 1960 edition definitely fully justifies its 3cm bookshelf space. Would I want to read it on my e-reader? No. The tangible progress of the perfectly constructed plot marching, weaving, and, at times, racing through the fine paper pages of a fifty-three year old book is a memorable pleasure in itself.
The majority of "Advise and Consent"'s mammoth 760 pages are intelligent, explosive, and magnetic, and would have warranted nothing less than a 5-star rating -- a very rare quality for what is essentially a page-turner.But in the last 200 pages, author Allen Drury begins to lose focus and lose steam, and as a result, the book starts to lag. This is so frustrating, given the sheer magnitude and awesomeness that the book began with and carried straight through towards the end. What a shame."Advise and Consent" tells the story of what happens in the US Senate when the President of the United States startles the world by nominating a controversial wild-card named Robert A. Leffingwell to the position of Secretary of State. It's a decision that sends shockwaves through Washington, and the flabbergasted senators are left with the task of either supporting Leffingwell or attempting to stop him. To add to the confusion, soon information is brought forth that Leffingwell may - or may not - have been involved with the Communist Party at one point (remember: this book came out at the height of the Cold War)."Advise and Consent" is told through the points-of-view of four main characters: Democrat Bob Munson is the President's always-loyal right-hand-man who the President entrusts to see that Leffingwell's nomination gets passed; Seab Coolley is an ageing battle-axe Republican Senator whose firebrand ways cause lots of tumult on Capitol Hill, despite his essential faithfulness to his fellow senators, regardless of what side of the aisle they sit on; Brigham Anderson is a Democrat who nonetheless is driven by acting out of fairness first and foremost -- and his fairness tells him to go against the President and try to defeat Leffingwell; and Orrin Knox is a senator who does what's best for the senate and for the country, but who can't shake the bitterness over losing the Democratic Presidential bid against the President who he is now forced to obey. While Munson's, Coolley's, and Anderson's books burst with electricity from page one, Orrin Knox's book is much less interesting, much less realistic, and becomes stricken with sentimentality. It is also - inexplicably - the longest of the four sections, and as such, it is such a disappointment to blast through over 500 pages of unique literary excellence only to be brought down with a thud for the last chunk of the novel.But this is still a great novel, and one which must have raised a few eyebrows in its day (I won't say why, but let's just say that Brigham Anderson has quite the secret). Drury has based much of what has happened in "Advise and Consent" on the lives and actions of real US politicians, but even so, the man has a knack for creating characters that we are interested in and who we come to care about. Even Seab Coolley - so set in his right-wing ways, and causing so much trouble for the Democrats - is likeable. In fact, he's lovable, and was my favourite character in the whole book, for his Zeitgeist bravado, his cunning intellect, and his surprisingly humane side that continued to pierce through again and again as the book progressed.With over 100 characters in total, "Advise and Consent" in a one-of-a-kind book which, in the end, falls short of being a perfect novel, but most of it actually was perfect. The first 500 pages of Drury's Pulitzer Prize-winner are something I will remember fondly and carry with me as being one of the most biting, gripping, and enjoyable reading experiences I've ever had, and this is still a novel I would recommend - without hesitation - to everyone. It's a true time capsule of the 1950s political climate in America.
Do You like book Advise And Consent (1981)?
Right before I read this book, amidst a fury of partisan vitriol and intense political rancor the US Congress grudgingly voted to raise the nation’s debt ceiling. This came six months after another intense budget fight that threatened to shut down the federal government, and fifteen months after a supposedly cataclysmic vote on the nation’s health care policy. In each case I’ve had to think: “why can’t we all just get along?” In reading Advise and Consent I realized that the best answer to my question is simply: “because we haven’t gotten along for decades.”This hefty piece of 1950’s pop literature addresses just how a genial relationship between President and Congress can sour, and how the conflict is spun and finessed into an epic battle for the soul of America (whether it needs to be or not). Instead of a single piece of legislation, Adivse and Consent focuses on a cabinet confirmation which may, or may not, have a drastic impact on international affairs, but becomes absolutely critical to the lives of four powerful senators who anchor the story’s narration.At the time it was published, Advise and Consent might well have been a thriller of political gamesmanship and intrigue. Who was playing whom and how did each person determine what America needed? Unfortunately, reading it today makes the whole kerfuffle seem rather quaint. Jaded by the past two decades of politics I kept thinking: “really, Mr. President? You’re surprised that Congress is going to grandstand in the middle of a cabinet nomination, really?” “Really, Senator? You’re aghast at how your fellow politicians are using this conflict to enhance their own careers, really?” As a semi-serious student of the political games we play in America, I couldn’t help but smile sagely at the Capra-esque naivite of several characters...and I’m just a punk 21st Century kid, they’re the (fictional) shapers of 1950s America.So, while there’s a measure of thrilling conflict and unexpected twists throughout the book, Advise and Consent will seem to more contemporary eyes like a paleozoic insect trapped in amber. A clever story, with cute characters and a few speechifying moments that would fit right in on The West Wing, but never fly on today’s nightly news.Of course, fifty years from now who knows what some smart-alecky kid will write about our own political theatrics...
—MacK
You think Congress acted badly during the debt ceiling debate? That's nothing compared to Allen Drury's scenario.I have seen the movie several times and enjoyed it, but the book has so many more rich textures to it that it's worth the read. There were about 200 pages there (at 760 pages, it's a chore in places) where it was impossible to put down. His descriptions of Sen. Brigham Anderson's story are impeccably written.It's a little dated as references to the evil Russians and the race to the moon don't quicken the pace that much anymore. And Drury still manages to keep an optimism about the Senate that he may not share if he were still around. But he tells a great tale, and he explores the issue of gay experiences at a time when the subject was still a dangerous taboo.Read the book and see the movie, but don't expect them to be the same.
—Chris
Book Circle Reads 25Rating: 4* of fiveThe Book Description: ADVISE AND CONSENT is a study of political animals in their natural habitat and is universally recognized as THE Washington novel. It begins with Senate confirmation hearings for a liberal Secretary of State and concludes two weeks later, after debate and controversy have exploded this issue into a major crisis."I can recall no other novel in which there is so well presented a president's dilemma when his awful responsibility for the nation's interest conflicts with a personal code of good morals." (The New York Times)My Review: They's fags in this book! Ack-chew-ull hom'sexshulls!! Myrtle, git the Babble an' we'uns'll exercize it!Allen Drury was a conservative. He thought World Commanizm was a-gonna ruin the New Nited States of Murrika!! They's a-gonna take us over!!Ahem.As one might surmise from my initial response above, I have zero respect for conservatism, equating it with ignorance and intolerance. I should know, as I was raised by parents whose politics were to the right of Hitler. McCarthy was a fine, fine man and an upstanding American patriot to my mumsy and daddums. Goldwater was a bit too liberal for them.So when I take exception to Drury's preachifyin' and speechifyin', it is from an insider's point of view. The Senate process of advising the President on his cabinet nominees and consenting to the appointment of officers of state is never more brilliantly illuminated (in all senses of that phrase) than in this novel. Drury, who very much knew whereof he wrote, brings a harsh actinic glare to the role of personal charisma and individual power in the business of the Senate. The small, collegial nature of the Senate focuses the astounding power of the body onto a few key players: The Majority and Minority Leaders, in particular, are vitally important to any legislation or appointment passing through the body.Drury reported on the Senate for United Press International. When he came to write this book, he used two decades' worth of knowledge to weave believable characters and put them in actual situations that have occurred in the Senate, and my gawd it is grim reading. Human nature run rampant, greed and viciousness running roughshod over the needs of We-The-People, and craven poltroons running for re-election from the second they take the oath of office.Sound familiar? It should. But this came out in 1959, and was based on men in office from 1939 to 1959. Nothing changes. Never will. All we-the-people can hope for is to elect a better class of scumbag (read: beholden to voters not banksters and billionaires) once in a while.Drury is telling a story of a man's, well, tawdry and tacky infidelity as it figures into the national conversation. *cough*Clinton*cough* The plot in many ways hinges on this private peccadillo, and even though it's never exactly made public, it's the linchpin of the events that follow...a suicide, an international crisis that reaches into space, and the death of a key player at a very delicate moment all come together to make the outcome seem inevitable from the outside.The genius of the story is that we, who have seen it all unfold, know that it was in no way inevitable. It was an ad hoc decision based on an unforeseen turn of events by way of a surprise occurrence packaged as perfect control by the media.Sound familiar? It should. It was ever thus. Always will be thus.Read this and weep. Read this and realize that inaction on your part has huge costs. Vote YOUR conscience, educate YOUR mind. (Unless you're conservative, in which case succumb to despair and sit out every election for evermore, nothing you do will matter or help.)
—Richard Reviles Censorship Always in All Ways
