Albert Brooks

Brooks' idea about American society in the year 2030 is spot on. I could absolutely see this happening, which is pretty depressing. In Brooks' future, most ailments have been cured and people are living to be 120 or so. The generation gap is a bigger chasm than ever, and the "olds" hold most of the wealth and power. The middle-aged can't get ahead and the young are resentful. Brooks follows a representative of each age group, as well as the President, until their stories intertwine for the show more big finale. My only complaint is that said finale is not as big as I would have liked, and that it left me wondering what happens next. I hope he's got a sequel in there, but enough of the storylines were tied up that I kind of don't think so.
As always, Brooks is witty, cerebral, and realistic. I was figuratively laughing through tears at several points. He really has a good idea of what go on inside people's heads, and makes you sympathize with every character, even ones in direct opposition to each other. You get the sense that everyone's doing the best they can with what they have to work with, instead of a good guys vs. bad guys tale. Again, I really enjoyed this; I am always a fan of Albert Brooks. show less

Only a few pages into Albert Brooks’s 2030:The Real Story of What Happens to America, I was struck by how logical his version of 2030 America felt to me. Based on what 2011 America is like, it is very easy to see how America could find herself in the middle of a generational civil war by 2030 – or sooner. Let us just hope that the rest of Brook’s vision is not as likely a predictor of the country’s future.

By 2030, thanks to China’s financing of America’s lifestyle, things are show more still looking good in America. Cancer has been cured and people are living longer, and more comfortably, than ever before. A score of other new drugs have even made it possible for the elderly to look and feel better than they did when they were in their forties and fifties. The cliché that “60 is the new 40” is, in fact, now an understatement of the truth about aging in America.

And then it happens: Los Angeles is leveled by “the big one,” an earthquake so damaging that the government cannot even begin to rebuild the devastated infrastructure of one of its largest cities without a loan of trillions of dollars from China. But this time the Chinese refuse, correctly pointing out that there is no way America could ever pay back the money.

China is not the only creditor weary of supporting a lifestyle in which it, for the most part, does not share. America’s young have reached their own breaking point, and they see only a bleak future for themselves if they have to finance the extended lifetimes of those who came before them. The “olds” sense the resentment directed their way but, despite the increased security measures most of them take, they are more and more often being targeted by assassins willing to die for the cause.

This is Albert Brooks’s first novel and, while it does display a little of the kind of humor the author is famous for, readers should recognize coming in that this is not a comedy. Brooks tells his story through the eyes of several main characters from both sides of the equation: an American president faced with doing something unthinkable if it will save the country; an 80-year-old survivor of the earthquake with no place to go; a young woman burdened by the huge medical bills left behind by her deceased father; a wealthy young man determined to strike back at the elderly; and a Chinese billionaire holding the key to the future of California – and America.

2030 is more warning than comedic farce. This is one road we both could be headed down, America and Europe. Let’s hope that Brooks’s vision does not become our reality.

Rated at: 4.0 show less

An interesting book but it had an irritating habit of dumping large amounts of information instead of telling a story. I wish the story had been more important than the predictions of what the world might look like. This was closer to 2.5 stars than 3.

The title of Albert Brooks novel, Twenty Thirty, refers to the year in which this dystopian tale takes place. I've enjoyed Albert Brooks since I first saw him almost 40 years ago on The Flip Wilson Show. In his first novel, Brooks tells a story which is both frighteningly realistic, and funny as hell. By the title year, cancer has been cured, removing the biggest predatory threat to mankind. Many other health advances have also occurred, and the result is that 80 is the new 50. There is show more great resentment for "the olds" among younger people, as the entitlement safety net stretches to the breaking point. Then, in 2030, The Big One finally hits LA. 9.1 on the richter scale. The city and its suburbs are demolished; and the Government realizes that the money to repair and rebuild simply doesn't exist. Hilarity ensues. The book reminds me a lot of Christopher Buckley. It is a low-level satire, and thoroughly enjoyable. I'm glad I read it. show less