Finally, I've snagged a copy of Christopher Buckley's latest snark-fest, Boomsday. All I can say is: HA HA HA HA HA HA HA! And so forth.
This is a comic book of a novel--actually more like a half-hour sitcom on paper--and it's both hilarious and a little bit terrifying. Buckley presents a near-believable account of a young public relations whiz, Cassandra Devine, who proposes that the government offer tax incentives to boomers who would opt for Voluntary Transitioning on their 65th or 70th birthdays. That is, they'd be willing to commit suicide so as not to overburden the already failing Social Security system, and to relieve their children of the burden of supporting them into very old, relatively healthy old age.
Here's how Buckley puts it:
"Cass had come up with the notion of a television and Internet advertising campaign to stigmatize old age. This would, theoretically, nudge voters toward greater acceptance of Voluntary Transitioning. . . This campaign is about self-indulgent aging Boomers who are wrecking the U.S. economy and economically enslaving the next generation."
Cassandra also calls boomers "resource hogs" and "Wrinklies," just to get her message across. She claims that her approach is meta-lobbying, not meant to be realistic, just to get the President to consider these issues seriously. But, then, the issue gets swept up in the media and the public consciousness, and become all too real.
Buckley's genius lies in the creation of absurdities that fall just this side of believable. For example:
"ABBA had formed a few years earlier when a faction of members of the American Association of Retired Persons decided that aging Boomers needed their own lobby. The split with AARP had been contentious and litigious. Given its demographics--77 million, average household income of $58,000--it had quickly become a formidable lobby. Its guiding philosophy was: "From cradle to grave, special in every way."
Here's another, just to show that Buckley has sprinkled this stuff liberally throughout this nutty book, like raisins in a fruitcake:
"He founded the Society for the Protection of Every Ribonucleic Molecule, SPERM. Soon it became the go-to activist pro-life vanguard. If an abortion clinic opened somewhere, SPERM was there to protest. He spoke out against stem cell research. If the family of a vent-dependent, brain-dead coma victim tried to unplug life support, SPERM was there with a court order to stop it and a howling posse of interventionist congressmen."
Also, you're not supposed to judge a book by its you-know-what, but I really love the cut out in the cover of this book. Check it out.
I'm not quite finished Boomsday, but I'm now at the point--page 243 out of 318--where I'm trying to slow myself down so I can savor the ridiculous pleasure of reading this laugh-out-loud absurd take on modern life and modern middle-agers.
Boomsday, C'est moi.
