I contemplate the legacy of the Boomers

Boomsday***
by Christopher Buckley

Christopher Buckley writes sharp satire, and has a keen ear for dialogue. Never mind that he exploits ugly stereotypes in his characters while pretending to humanize them; his writing is so smart that you're willing to pretend he's fooling you for a few hours. But despite the pretense, Buckley does offer provocative food for thought. (Check out, for example, the movie version of his novel, "Thank You for Smoking," which explores the dysfunction in power structures from the U.S. Senate, to the press, to alcohol, tobacco, and firearms lobbies.) "Boomsday" is true to Buckley's form, opening with a fed-up Millennial suggesting that Baby Boomers be offered some tax breaks if they agree to take the Black Capsule when they turn 70, thus maintaining the solvency of the Social Security system without crippling taxation on Our Young People.


Cassandra Devine nee Cohane is the brilliant but dogged and ultimately unstable Millennial in a near-future, near-dystopia of "Boomsday" whose ire seems to be less aroused by concern over the national debt than by her Boomer daddy, who squandered her college fund on a tech company start-up. Daddy Frank is the quintessential Boomer stereotype--self-involved, trophy wife, yacht (daddy issues here? Buckley's father, the famous William, was a yachting fanatic), and a lot of cars. Cassandra's mother, on the other hand, is a practical high school teacher who ditches Daddy-o when she finds out about the squandering. She seems to have a spine and a moral compass, and she doesn't appear after the opening chapters. Having anything like a sane, rational character would spoil the snark.

Moreover, if Frank Cohane is a selfish bastard, he is a savvy and successful one who tries to pay his daughter back (with interest!). What are we to make of his daughter, who rejects her share of his successful start-up and changes her name to boot? If Frank is a self-involved Boomer, what does that make his daughter, pray tell? I think that may be one of Buckley's sly points.

The Boomsday scheme runs out of steam about halfway through the book, and Buckley abandons it to concentrate on a U.S. Senate election, sidelining the generation gap theme. This gives the plot a "make it up as I go" quality that even Buckley's clever prose can't quite cover up.

Moreover, it's hard to know what Buckley wants here. Most satires are driving at some point or other; I think it always behooves readers to keep Swift's "Modest Proposal" in mind as a point of reference when approaching satire. Buckley seems to be merely to want to create characters out of the aforementioned stereotypes and then invite the reader to agree that "my God, everyone (except us) is so dumb!"

In the end, there are no solutions for Social Security here, unless Buckley is pointing out that Social Security was, at the outset, a terrible idea, bound to drive rifts among generations. Or that the government simply can't be trusted with anything too complicated. Or that government attracts the most viciously self-absorbed individuals and lackeys who can make a buck from their vanity. All of these are lively and interesting ideas ... too bad Buckley didn't pick one.