Potus Geeks Book Review: The Bloviator
Truth can be stranger than fiction, and the last days of President Warren G. Harding are a good example of this. Faced with impending scandals within his administration that were about to explode, corrupt advisors, failing health made worse by a quack of a physician, blackmailers attempting to exploit his numerous affairs, and an ambitious domineering wife, the President of the United States embarked on a cross-country train trip from Washington D.C. to Alaska in an effort to rehabilitate his chances for re-election. That's all the true stuff, but it's also the backdrop for Jim Yoakum's 2012 novel The Bloviator. ("Bloviating" was what Harding called his personal style of oratory.)
Amidst all of this, Yoakum injects a number of fictitious elements to the story, some based on speculation, others that are pure invention. These include a hallucinating (or possibly haunted) president, a first lady attuned to mystics and bent on becoming the first female President of the United States, a scheming and deceitful villainous Attorney-General (well, that's mostly true), and a number of steamy sex scenes one might expect from a lascivious President, but which one might not expect from some of the other characters in Harding's circle of influence. The ending is also something that probably never happened, that's all I'll say about that.
There are a number of mysteries contained in the true story of President Warren Gamaliel Harding and these are woven into this novel. Why did two of Harding's associates commit suicide? Why did Harding die suddenly after a group of reputable doctors predicted that he was over the worst of his illness? Why were his personal papers burned after his demise? And why did the first lady insist that there would be no autopsy after Harding's death? These true aspects of the life and death of Warren Harding all add to the intrigue and appeal of this book.
Yoakum stays true to the known history, and wonderfully embellishes the unknown, decorating the already colorful characters with the stuff of Dashell Hamett (who makes a cameo in the book). He has ably researched his characters and tries not to deviate from what is known about them in composing his fiction. As the author notes, the strengths and weaknesses of the real-life characters are spectacular in themselves, almost unbelievably so. The crooked and vain are extraordinarily so, and so are the virtuous. Yoakum exploits this brilliantly. We know what's coming, that is, we know that Harding dies in San Francisco, and yet the novel never loses its sense of mystery.
Parts of this book can be a bit of a slog to the reader, as Yoakum explains much of Harding's background in great detail on aspects unnecessary for the story. Or perhaps this applies only to readers who are history geeks and know all of this already. There were also a few minor editing errors in the copy of the book that I read. These should not distract from a real-life mystery, so fascinating that it seems to originate within the realm of fiction. Because of the unbelievable elements contained in the life and death of Warren Harding, it is a story that requires a master story-teller and it is one that is not easily enmeshed with fiction. Yoakum ably confronts and meets these challenges and produces an enjoyable tale in the process.
Amidst all of this, Yoakum injects a number of fictitious elements to the story, some based on speculation, others that are pure invention. These include a hallucinating (or possibly haunted) president, a first lady attuned to mystics and bent on becoming the first female President of the United States, a scheming and deceitful villainous Attorney-General (well, that's mostly true), and a number of steamy sex scenes one might expect from a lascivious President, but which one might not expect from some of the other characters in Harding's circle of influence. The ending is also something that probably never happened, that's all I'll say about that.
There are a number of mysteries contained in the true story of President Warren Gamaliel Harding and these are woven into this novel. Why did two of Harding's associates commit suicide? Why did Harding die suddenly after a group of reputable doctors predicted that he was over the worst of his illness? Why were his personal papers burned after his demise? And why did the first lady insist that there would be no autopsy after Harding's death? These true aspects of the life and death of Warren Harding all add to the intrigue and appeal of this book.
Yoakum stays true to the known history, and wonderfully embellishes the unknown, decorating the already colorful characters with the stuff of Dashell Hamett (who makes a cameo in the book). He has ably researched his characters and tries not to deviate from what is known about them in composing his fiction. As the author notes, the strengths and weaknesses of the real-life characters are spectacular in themselves, almost unbelievably so. The crooked and vain are extraordinarily so, and so are the virtuous. Yoakum exploits this brilliantly. We know what's coming, that is, we know that Harding dies in San Francisco, and yet the novel never loses its sense of mystery.
Parts of this book can be a bit of a slog to the reader, as Yoakum explains much of Harding's background in great detail on aspects unnecessary for the story. Or perhaps this applies only to readers who are history geeks and know all of this already. There were also a few minor editing errors in the copy of the book that I read. These should not distract from a real-life mystery, so fascinating that it seems to originate within the realm of fiction. Because of the unbelievable elements contained in the life and death of Warren Harding, it is a story that requires a master story-teller and it is one that is not easily enmeshed with fiction. Yoakum ably confronts and meets these challenges and produces an enjoyable tale in the process.