Everybody’s talking about America America

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Ethan Canin’s new novel, ‘America America,’ is getting attention from newspaper book reviews across the country. Everyone says that it’s grand in scope and ambition, which tempts comparison to other grand, ambitious novels.

Both the Philadelphia Inquirer and the Washington Post compare it to Robert Penn Warren’s classic ‘All the King’s Men.’ Like the earlier novel, ‘America America’ follows a charming but flawed politician from the narrative perspective of a younger aide/journalist.

That young aide is brought into this circle of power and politics by a wealthy patriarch, a man with both riches and a sense of noblesse oblige. That character prompted the LA Times reviewer to make comparisons to ‘The Great Gatsby;’ the Chicago Tribune went with another F. Scott Fitzgerald work, ‘The Last Tycoon.’

The reviewers aren’t entirely in accord with how successful the book is; some note that, despite its achievements, there are some structural problems (for the most extreme critique in this department, see the New York Times.)

The one things that everyone agreed upon is that there is a real-life corollary to the politician in ‘America America’: a liberal senator with Presidential ambitions that are hampered by a tragic accident. If you can’t guess who that might be, here’s the answer.

Carolyn Kellogg