George Bush, Dark Prince of Love: A Presidential Romance

By Lydia Millet

Book Overview

An uproarious, biting political satire about one ex-con's obsession with the 41st president, from the author of A Children's Bible--a finalist for the 2020 National Book Award for Fiction and one of the New York Times Book Review's ten best books of the year.

"Some women like muscle. Brute strength, or the illusion of it. Their idea of an attractive man is a craggy meatpacker with a squirrel brain, who likes to crush vermin with his bare fist. I call these women Reaganites....Personally, I've always preferred the underdog."

Rosemary is an ex-con with no viable career prospects, a boyfriend old enough to be her grandfather, and a major obsession with our nation's forty-first president, whom she fondly refers to as "G.B." Unexpectedly smitten during his inaugural address, Rosemary is soon anticipating G.B.'s public appearances with the enthusiasm she once reserved for all-you-can-eat breakfast buffets. As her ardor and determination to gain G.B.'s affection grow, Rosemary embarks on an increasingly outrageous campaign that escalates from personal letters to paid advertising, until at last she reaches the White House.

What happens next is nothing like how Rosemary imagined it would be.

Written with razor-sharp satiric wit and packed with wry observations of our times, our presidents, and our electorate, George Bush, Dark Prince of Love is a hilarious antidote to the hype and hypocrisy of America's most hallowed institutions.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0684862743
• ISBN13: 9780684862743
• Release Date: January 2000
• Publisher: Touchstone Books
• Length: 160 Pages
• Weight: 0.44 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.4" x 5.5" x 8.6"

Customer Reviews

I always felt there was a molecular-level strength in the polar opposition of GB and me.

Like protons and electrons or something. Lydia Millet's 'My Happy Life' tore me to shreds with its realism of harsh times, harsh lives, and those forced unwillingly into horrid circumstances. Where 'My Happy Life' is depressing with raw helplessness, 'Dark Prince Of Love' is hilarious in pointing towards the everyday psychotic behavior of those whom you pass cautiously on the sidewalk, knowing something is wrong but unable to pinpoint it. 'GB, Dark Prince Of Love' had me shrieking with laughter, written from the psychotic POV of Rosemary, an ex-con who spent time in a maximum security prison for running a stop sign and killing her passenger and best friend Shelly. Released from prison and set up in a mobile home park in 1989, she is free just in time to absorb herself in the election process of George Bush Senior. She has a job on an assembly line folding box tops when she meets Russell in a drugstore line. Russell is an antisocial Korean War vet with a laryngectomy, a cocaine habit, and a penchant for pulling mean pranks. The book told in comical, first person perspective by Rosemary, who takes GB's speeches so literally that she uses them to guide her everyday life. Learning from GB's "outright denial-tactic" of his relationship with Noriega, Rosemary gets Russell drunk and convinces him to sign over the deed to his house to her. When Russell almost OD's on cocaine, Rosemary gets scolded in the ER, Russell is forced into a dry out facility where he breaks his hip during a chair-standing soliloquy that no one understood because of his voice box. Rosemary sets up her shrine to GB in Russell's basement, and moves into his house, taking up with an illegal Mexican immigrant named Jose while Russell is hospitalized. Before Russell comes home Rosemary calls the DOJ and has Jose deported. Rosemary's memories of her youth with Shelly, her relationship with Russell and his war buddy Apache who unexpectedly moves in for awhile, Jose, her co-workers, and eventually the Secret Service who respond to her strange letters written to the white house, all revolve around Rosemary's obsession with GB, and the shrine she built to him. This is a very funny satirical novel about abnormal obsessions, bad habits, odd people, and sadly, the voting public. Lydia Millet is a very talented writer that brings both wit and deep emotion into her novels, whether serious or funny. I strongly recommend picking up one of her novels. Enjoy!

Absurd and splendid

Well, I knew from the title alone that I would love this book. However, I had no clue that it would be as brilliant a lampoon as it is.The plot focuses on how a woman who embodies all the victim's of George H.W. Bush comes fanatically loyal and obsessed with him.While exceedingly understated, this defines savage satire. The irony is delicious and not at all overwrought; fortunately it is short as any longer and the humor would quickly transcend the point of diminishing returns. This is definitely dark, sardonic humor. If you have a cynical bent, you will love this.

rad

This book shows a great appreciation for language, imagination and the finer things in life. People who have no life may not like it because it reminds them of themselves, but others who operate on a more cerebral plane and appreciate the craft of writing will enjoy the ride.

Bush WHACK!

Rarely does one find a novel that so deftly tapdances on the fulcrum between dada absurdism and tomorrow's headlines (Monica, meet Rosemary). The best political satire since "Fear and Loathing on the Campaign Trail '72."

This Bush Burns!

I'm not usually a big fan of political humor, but this book made me laugh pretty hard. It skewers G.B. through the conceit of loving him, which makes it particularly effective and scathing. In fact, if you look in the dictionary under "scathing," you'll find a tiny pic of Lydia Millet and her new book. No, really, it's there! My only criticism is that it's currently only available in paperback. I'd love to smack Bush Jr. with the hardcover edition. Ouch.