Sex, money and politics in SoCal- a series of soft targets for political satire. There are some funny moments as the three Duke brothers hurtle towards self-destruction in this screwball noir saga, and some pithy observations."Mary Swain's danger lies in her cheerful erotic charge. When fascism arrives it will not be in jackboots but, rather, wrapped in an American flag, carrying a cross and wearing fuck-me pumps."I like the concept of the Angry Buddhist - Jimmy Ray Duke's occasionally successful approach to (court ordered) anger management - and I like the Desert Machiavelli blog comments on Randall Duke's disintegrating political campaign interspersed throughout the story. There aren't enough stars. It#s not as bad as a two star rating would imply, but it's not as good as Johathen Franzen's Freedom, which wasn't good enough for four stars.It's readable, characters are many and varied (none too deep, though), the pages were all printed the right way up and there weren't loads of crimes against grammar and cliche. (just some). The email exchanges between the eponymous character and his guru are faintly shoe-horned-in sixth-form psychology (maybe that's the point?) and slightly ridiculous, but not so that you tear pages out in frustration.If someone gives it to you as a present, read it. If you're in a bookshop browsing for something page-turny and not desperately annoying, it'll do if it has a big "5 pounds off" sign on the front.
What do You think about The Angry Buddhist (2012)?
This is a new author for me and after only 44 pages.......this is going to be fun!
—RamlaJ
There's hard-boiled, and then there's overcooked.
—Nicole
