The Partly Cloudy Patriot (2015) - Plot & Excerpts
I love Sarah Vowell. I can't say that enough. She re-affirms my belief that someone out there gets 'it'. That... it's not crazy to have these thoughts. (well, some of them, anyway). I'm not even sure that 're-affirms' is the word I'm looking for. I don't know... I'm just extremely grateful...I'll admit that I”m not one to eagerly debate American politics, the economy or foreign policy, I'm just not articu-literary enough in that way. As you can see, I like to make up words and then people don't really take me seriously, you know? I've always just figured that what I felt was common sense---I just assume that people, when presented with the facts, can see how inane, well... the last eight years have been. A majority of The Partly Cloudy Patriot revolves around the 2000 Presidential election. Back when I was naive-when I thought that the choice was so obvious that any other outcome was inconceivable. Damn---was I proven wrong. There is this one part where she is describing the 2000 inauguration that comes to mind: “I told myself I came down to 'protest'. But I choose to display my dissent by bursting into tears as Bush finishes up his oath. Alas, my tears are my picket sign. It's happened. It's over. He's it.” Oh, I just want to hug her. And then I read the essay The Partly Cloudy Patriot, her narrative of NYC immediately after 9/11...her passion for the idea of 'America'... when she has a hissy fit because the VFW placed a flag on her lawn during a 4th of July parade and called them up screaming 'The whole point of that goddamn flag is that people don't stick flags in my yard without asking me!' and then goes on to quote Thomas Paine??? I will admit that I didn't cry over the 2000 election, I think I was too stunned. It wasn't going to happen, you know? People were going to smarten up? It was surreal. I can't say the same for 2004, there were tears, soon replaced by complete disillusionment. Sarah's essay entitled 'Dear Dead Congressman' is my favorite. I think that all, ALL, high schoolers should read this. An homage to her first voting experience, a wonderful recount of Letterman's tirade about being called a 'non-voting republican' (Have you heard about this? Oh, please google it) and finishing up with: “During the New Hampshire primary I got in a screaming fight with candidate Gary Bauer – okay, I screamed, he didn't – who had just whipped out a little paperback copy of the Declaration of Independence and Constitution out of his pocket and said that anyone who doesn't believe in God, doesn't believe in those documents because of the phrase 'endowed by their Creator.' I told him that, on the contrary, those documents for me have superceded God, that they are my Bible.” This collection of essays was bittersweet. I felt her frustration, I enjoyed her family stories, but mostly, I'm so so so appreciative of her. She gives me real hope. She is what is getting me through these next 32 days of mavericks, joe six-packs, and hockey moms.Thank you again Sarah
Sarah Vowell is a natural storyteller and her talent is immediately apparent in this collection of radio segments from NPRs "This American Life" and from magazine contributions. Vowell has a unique perspective which I totally embrace. She muses, for example, that while many people think of Abraham Lincoln as the American Jesus, she notices that he has a little Mayor Daley mixed into his DNA. Vowell doesn't hide her political beliefs, but she retains a sense of reality and balance. In discussing Bill Clinton's failures as president--and she admits that she is a huge fan--she notes that voters in the Congressional election of 1994 punched the names of Republican candidates on their voting machines with one hand while using the other hand to give Clinton the finger. And she tells readers that President Nixon's face on television was her first memory. It was during the Watergate hearings and young Sarah Vowell thought that those hearings were a regular television show like Bonanza, Ed Sullivan, or Scooby-Doo. After visiting Nixon's Presidential Library--she has made trips to all of the presidential libraries--she reflected that while she thought Watergate was a horror and the Vietnam War was wrong that it is useful to remember that "those decisions, even the most deadly ones, were made, not by a supernatural monster, but by a real man whom we elected, a man who at least believed he was right." That's something that many Americans, myself included, should remember in these very partisan times. In exploring patriotism, Vowell wonders why she is drawn to places of bloody struggles such as Gettysburg and Salem ("Twenty innocent people were executed in Salem during the witchcraft hysteria of 1692, which is horrifying, but manages to make for a surprisingly nice weekend getaway."). She was also deeply upset by the results of the 2000 presidential election and went to the inauguration to protest. And yet she found herself sobbing as she stood on the National Mall surrounded by thousands of people singing the Star-Spangled Banner. I like Vowell's ability to stand back and dissect her own political attitudes and her love of her country shines through. An amazingly enjoyable read.
What do You think about The Partly Cloudy Patriot (2015)?
After reading the first essay in this compliation I wanted to like this book. I looked forward to more of the same genuine feeling and witty sentiment in which Sarah ensconces her experiences at Gettysburg, Salem, the 2000 inaguration, and the Carlsbad Caverns. Unfortunately these humorus and profound pieces are punctuated with seemingly irrelevant, meandering musings thematically tangental to the patriotic tone set by the title, the cover, and the opening piece. And while I understand the value of such ramblings, thier place is usually on ones personal computer or in a journal tucked away somewhere rather than amongst a series of essays that seek to deal seriously with the topic of contradiction in American living. And if their inclusion is supposed to be some kind of preformative affirmation of those inherrant contradictions, it feels contirved and doesn't flow naturally at all. Speaking of contrived, the ridiculous illustrations that pop up every now and again are totally distracting and only add to the "slapped together" feel of the whole book.Furthermore, her inability to refrain from vulgarlity quickly lowers my respect for her as a writer. Anyone who can't express a sentiment without reverting to the "f" word strikes me as unimaginative and inarticulate. I wanted to like this book. I wanted to lose myself within the dry wit and unexpected metaphors, but in the end all I can say is that of all the books I've ever read, this is one of them.
—Anika
I picked this one up from BookMooch after hearing one of the stories on This American Life last fall (or maybe earlier this year?). I can't ever decide if I find Sarah Vowell's voice charming or grating, so perhaps reading her prose was the best way to discover that I really, truly do love her.One of the things I've always appreciated about some of my pen-friends is that the letters they write me could very well be a voice mail message because their way of writing is so true to the way they communicate in person. Perhaps it's just that I'm accustomed to hearing Vowell on the radio doing very similar material that I felt that this flowed like her radio stories - I could hear her nasally, annoyed voice as she talked about weeping at Bush's inauguration, or visiting Civil War battlefields, or how Abraham Lincoln also had an annoying voice.I feel like it can be really difficult to make history personal - but Vowell manages to do it with great panache. I'm really looking forward to reading her other books, and would highly recommend this one.
—Elizabeth
ok. i almost gave this book 2 stars because it was cheesy in an NPR/This American Life/The Onion/Obama sort of way. its a book about patriotism and skepticism and being american and thinking about what that means. and really really liking america. i mean, with a conscious and all, but really liking them red white and blue things. so that's the part that made it difficult to swallow.but sort of stuck in there are really moments of insight and good writing that warranted another perspective. her musings on al gore and the 2000 election are pretty right on, and the chapter on selling maps and the history of geography were really good and very amusing to a history dork like myself. she's got hella nerd pride alongside her patriotism, which is what let me even finish the book.i would imagine she has better books b/c this one makes it seem like she either has, or is about to, write a really good book, which i look forward to reading. in the meantime, this book was really nice to have a long for 8 hours in a waiting room for sure.
—simon
