Advise and Consent (1959)

Each year since 1944 I have picked a book of the year--the book deemed by me at the end of the year as the best book I read that year. This book was the best book I read in 1960, a year in which I read 33 books--5 fiction and 28 non-fiction. This book was fiction, but I really ate it up because it was about political matters and politics has been a prime interest of mine since I was 8 years old. ( )

It took me a long time to get through this book due to all sorts of ongoing events in my day-to-day life, but it was well worth sticking with this 760-page fascinating novel about the U.S. Senate. The book centers around a controversial presiodential nomination for a new Secretary of State. The question is, does this man have the stuff to stand up to the Russians during the height of the cold war. The book delves into the pasts and personalities of several key senators and in the process shows the workings of the Senate during such a procedure. Of course reading this story set in 1959, one wonders how much the standards of etiquette, courtesy and mutual respect are still observed in today's fractious political times. At any rate, the story here flows very, very well indeed. The book is compelling and the plot believable. Nobody is all good or all bad. This book won a Pulitzer Prize and one can well see why. The only drawback might be that the characters are drawn with just a touch of cliche sometimes, and are not quite as deeply realized as I think Drury was hoping for. Plus at times the book gets a bit preachy. But that's why I give this book 4 1/2 stars rather than the full five. Advise and Consent is a time commitment and something of a time capsule. I do recommend it highly for anyone who thinks a novel about the American political system, even in 1959, might be interesting. ( )

מותחן פוליטי גדול שמתאר בפרטי פרטים את תהליכי המאב​קים בסנט על מינוי שר חוץ נתון לויכוח. בסט סלר אמרי​ ( )

ספר מתח ודרמה פוליטיים מרתק ומאלף​ ( )

Somewhat aged, but still good to read, especially for a Washingtonian ( )