Finale by Thomas Mallon

12/1/2015BookFilter | Evernote Web https://www.evernote.com/Home.action#n=38129580-449d-433b-90f0-3784a4556b59&ses=4&sh=2&sds=5&1/3HomeTop Picks: All BooksFinale MoreFinaleby Thomas MallonPrice: $27.95(Hardcover)Published: September 15, 2015Rating: 0.0/5 (0 votes cast)From the Publisher: Adding to a fiction chronicle that has alreadyspanned American history from the Lincoln assassination to theWatergate scandal, Thomas Mallon now brings to life thetumultuous administration of the most consequential and enigmaticpresident in modern times.</p><p> Finale captures the crusading ideologies, blunders, and glamour ofthe still-hotly-debated Reagan years, taking readers to the politicalgridiron of Washington, the wealthiest enclaves of SouthernCalifornia, and the volcanic landscape of Iceland, where thepresident engages in two almost apocalyptic days of negotiationwith Mikhail Gorbachev.</p><p> Along with Soviet dissidents, illegal-arms traders, and antinuclearactivists, the novel’s memorable characters include MargaretThatcher, Jimmy Carter, Pamela Harriman, John W.</p><p> Hinckley, Jr.(Reagan’s would-be assassin), and…Rate This Book|Rate/ReviewAdd To BookshelfGet This BookGo to your preferred retailer, click to choose a format and you' ll be taken directly to their site whereyou can get this book.BookFilter12/1/2015BookFilter | Evernote Web https://www.evernote.com/Home.action#n=38129580-449d-433b-90f0-3784a4556b59&ses=4&sh=2&sds=5&2/3 Personalize / Add More ChoicesWhat We SayWriter Thomas Mallon's novels are so smoothly entertaining, it's almost a surprise they've been taken seriously.</p><p> Butfrom his first book to his most recent ("Watergate"), critical acclaim has been steady and strong.</p><p> That trend willcontinue with "Finale," a sure-footed exploration of the Reagan years, especially those brief hours when the Gipperand Gorbachev almost made an historic disarmament agreement before it all came tumbling down.</p><p> Iran-Contra,AIDS, Nancy Reagan's astrologer, Daniel Patrick Moynihan's grudge against Pamela Harriman -- it's all here.</p><p> Mallonuses a kaleidoscopic approach to events, leaping from Bette Davis at a DC event to would-be assassin John W.Hinckley Jr. under lock and key to Margaret Thatcher trying to stiffen Reagan's spine and the First Lady living in fearof any and all threats to both Reagan the man and Reagan the legacy, all of it utterly convincing.</p><p> It's not mimicry butsomething deeper.</p><p> Everyone from Richard Nixon to the seductive journalist Christopher Hitchens (a friend ofMallon's) to a sexually confused young cog in the machine of the NSA is presented with empathy and complexity.</p><p> Atthe center of it all is the unknowable Reagan, the Rorscharch test, the amiable enigma, the soothing and mirror-likeleader that puzzles one and all.</p><p> Mallon deftly captures the frustration that Reagan engendered even (especially?)among his most fervent supporters.</p><p> Luckily, supporters of Mallon have yet to suffer the same fate even once. --Michael GiltzLessWhat Others SayThe New York Times Book Review“Mallon is a poised storyteller who traffics in history’s ironic creases.</p><p> His novels don’t upend conventional wisdom somuch as remind us that history is a rickety architecture of human endeavor—that today’s statues commemorateyesterday’s frail and fumbling mortals . . .</p><p> Finale represents Mallon’s most audacious and important work yet . . .Mallon’s portrayal of the first lady is humane, thoroughly convincing and counts as one of the book’s triumphs.</p><p> So ishis presentation of Richard Nixon, with whom “Finale” opens, rather unexpectedly . . .</p><p> As in his previous novels,Mallon works deftly with an ensemble cast, employing both real-life and fictitious characters . . . [a] gallopingnarrative.”Wall Street Journal“Thomas Mallon has carved an impressive place for himself in the art of ‘historical fiction,’ a genre whose augustforerunners include Tolstoy’s ‘War and Peace’ and Lampedusa’s ‘The Leopard’ . . .</p><p> Mr.</p><p> Mallon has cautioned, in theauthor’s note to his earlier novel ‘Dewey Defeats Truman’ (1997): ‘Nouns trump adjectives, and in the phrase“historical fiction” it is important to remember which of the two…MoreWhat You SayFilter byNo Reviews Found .....