Gordon Liddy Is My Muse, by Tommy "Tip" Paine

by John Calvin Batchelor

Book Overview

No Synopsis Available.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 080503790X
• ISBN13: 9780805037906
• Release Date: January 1995
• Publisher: Henry Holt & Company
• Length: 303 Pages
• Weight: 0.70 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.8" x 5.5" x 8.2"

Customer Reviews

Fabulous!

The narrator's off-beat view of the world is wonderful. It's great that the mistakes made in this twisting investigation are pointed out by the narrator himself. The vivid portraits given by the narrator of the characters involved in the mystery are wonderful. I enjoyed every minute of this book.

A rant about the cold war by an underrated author.

Gordon Liddy is My Muse reads like a rant turned novel by Dennis Miller. Constructed of a series of vignettes involving various aspects of cold war Americana, John Calvin Batchelor voices an opinion on anything that springs to mind, culminating in one of the most pointless yet intriguing questions of the century: Who was Deep Throat? (Not the porn star, her namesake the political luminary.)The patriotism is apparent, yet lacks any jingoistic narcissism, as our hero "Tip" wanders first through the Soviet Union, where he shows the change from totalitarian state to frontier justice. This is a precursor of the author's later novel Peter Nevsky and the True Story of the Russian Moon Landing (1993). Having gotten the obligatory Us vs. Them out of the way, Tip moves on to Us vs. Us in the good old Us of A., except for a foray into Germany, where its Us vs. Them vs. Us, and we continue to look for Nazis. For the rest of the novel, Tip maintains a domestic traveler with visits to Houston, Ohio, Miami, Maine, Arizona, and where the cold war will play while the ticket sales last, Hollywood. Through it all, Tip maintains his cynical isolation with the ever ready sarcastic quip and side glances at the camera, while providing commentary on what he perceives as the great cold war game; "sci-fi/spy" stuff. Using an extensive array of references, literary, historical, and political, the author manages to create a satire which still shows affection for the very things he mocks. Up until the final title section of the book, the light handed humor of our hero remains constant. It is then that Mr. Batchelor becomes somewhat preachy - providing an acceptably plausible explanation of who exposed the details of Watergate, while both building up and tearing down the character of the second most victimized participant - G. Gordon Liddy. Lest we forget, the primary victim remains Richard Nixon, the scapegoat of our age and principal martyr of our cultural disillusion. The double entendres and previous wit seemingly vanish while the author presents his explanation of the crime and its results. However, the book remains close to the target as an entertaining exploration of current social history. Ultimately the book is well worth reading, as are any of the author's works. Mr. Batchelor is a widely underrated author who has written novels in a multitude of styles, and always with integrity. Having read all of his novels but the sequel to this novel Walking the Cat (1991), and the political thriller Father's Day (1994), they are next on my list.