Review **A New York Times Notable Book of 2015**The New York Times Book Review“Mallon is a poised storyteller who traffics in history’s ironic creases. His novels don’t upend conventional wisdom so much as remind us that history is a rickety architecture of human endeavor—that today’s statues commemorate yesterday’s frail and fumbling mortals . . . 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. So is his presentation of Richard Nixon, with whom “Finale” opens, rather unexpectedly . . . As in his previous novels, Mallon works deftly with an ensemble cast, employing both real-life and fictitious characters . . . [a] galloping narrative.”Wall Street Journal“Thomas Mallon has carved an impressive place for himself in the art of ‘historical fiction,’ a genre whose august forerunners include Tolstoy’s ‘War and Peace’ and Lampedusa’s ‘The Leopard’ . . . Mr. Mallon has cautioned, in the author’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 words is which.’ He handles the distinction expertly, but part of the pleasure of reading him is deciding when the author is fudging historical fact. ‘Finale’ offers a certifiable slice of the recent past but teases its readers with subtle fictionalization . . . It is high-calorie stuff, and Mr. Mallon handles it with an easy mastery.” AV Club“Amid a presidential campaign of stupefying banality, where candidates compete to say the emptiest sentiment in the least insightful way possible, what a pleasure it is to enter the rough-and-tumble politics of Thomas Mallon’s historical novels. The elites of ‘80s government and media didn’t need soundbites: They had passions….Mallon captures that uncertain tenor of the times while portraying the complex drama of high-level politics with real clarity and energy. His take on W. can’t come soon enough.” Pittsburgh Post-Gazette“Mr. Mallon can twist language like a knife….[he] skillfully interweaves the personal and the political….It’s weirdly comforting to read a novel in which the characters are so familiar. Mr. Mallon’s vivid take on this period in American politics rings true. He effectively gets inside his cahracters’ heads, too.”Washington Post “Illustrates the strength of Mallon’s ability to cast even high-profile politicians as fellow humans….Wicked good, that Thomas Mallon.”Christian Science Monitor“Thomas Mallon takes this human clay and, after adding a dash of inspired inner dialogue, sculpts characters who embody the folly and frustration of political power. And, for good measure, Mallon’s characters never forget the striving required in the struggle for continued relevancy . . . Mallon has become a master of such political theater . . . What makes Mallon’s novels so much fun is the author’s blend of historical exactitude with imagined reactions and machinations. Many of those machinations play out in the plausible guise of fictional secondary players . . . Mallon fits all of these pieces together, combining broad historical accuracy and fictional verisimilitude with aplomb. Characters historical and fictional alike display bonfires of vanities, and insecurities, galore.” O Magazine“Gorbachev, Thatcher, the Gipper himself—the gang’s all here and ready to party like it’s 1986 in this propulsive and often very funny novel that portrays political upheaval through the eyes of some of recent history’s most formidable players.”Ricochet“Thomas Mallon may be our generation’s Allen Drury — the top fictional chronicler of political life in Washington, D.C.”St. Louis Post-Dispatch“This interesting and well-written book focuses on 1986—a year that proved to be Reagan’s annus horribilis . . . At the front of the book, writer Mallon gives readers a cast-of-characters list.  It teems with 99 characters—all but nine of them real-life people.  And what a real-life variety!" Dallas Morning News“Like any historical novelist, Thomas Mallon can ride the fact train when he wants and jump off when he pleases, and perhaps only the most rigorous scholar of Reagan’s time will know exactly where the research ends and the inventing starts.  But even readers who don’t remember the waning days of the Cold War will find masterful performances, by the author and by his subject, in Finale.” Publishers Weekly“What Mallon does best is dramatize the bizarre ‘80s intersection of Hollywood and Washington, D.C., as equal weight is given to Merv Griffin and Eva Gabor as to Pat Buchanan and Jeane Kirkpatrick, creating in the process a crazy, quilted depiction of a contradiction-filled presidential administration.”Kirkus Reviews, (starred review)“An intriguing, humorous, even catty backstage view of the Reagan presidency from an artisan of the historical novel . . . Historical fiction at this high level satisfies the appetite for speculation or even titillation through restraint as much as research . . . Mallon’s version of history is close enough to fact to revive faded memories, while his imagining of who thought and said what presents some of the coherence and delights of fiction.” Booklist, (starred review)“Despite all the scene-jumping, the transitions are seamless; there’s a whirlwind of activity and abundant snappy dialogue . . . Mallon has crafted a scrupulously researched novel that gives readers a front-row seat on world-changing events—a combination that proves irresistible.” Read more About the Author THOMAS MALLON is the author of nine novels, including Henry and Clara, Dewey Defeats Truman, Fellow Travelers, and Watergate. He is a frequent contributor to The New Yorker, The New York Times Book Review, and The Atlantic, and in 2011 he received the American Academy of Arts and Letters’ Harold D. Vursell Memorial Award for prose style. He has been the literary editor of GQ and the deputy chairman of the National Endowment for the Humanities. He lives in Washington, D.C. Read more See all Editorial Reviews
P**2
Interesting but not Riveting
My initial impression of "Finale" brought to mind Gore Vidal's "Lincoln," which I've also read and enjoyed, and, indeed, author and novel both make an appearance in the pages of this book. However, I don't mean to put "Finale" on the same level as "Lincoln"; I mean only that the former used the same narrative style as the latter and to similar effect. We get to see inside the title character's mind but once (again, just like "Lincoln"), while the rest of the novel is told from the perspective of a multitude of characters - including Mikhail Gorbachev, John Hinckley, Jr., Jimmy Carter, and even Bette Davis. The result is a rather scattershot account of the latter half of 1986 during Ronald Reagan's second presidential term, revolving around the Reykjavik Summit and the Iran-Contra Scandal. Having read Thomas Mallon's previous novel, "Watergate," and having enjoyed that book immensely, I ordered "Finale" as soon as I discovered the author had come out with it. I must say, unfortunately, that I was a little disappointed with his latest effort and I contrast it unfavorably with his last book. In "Watergate," following the unfolding of historic events, there's an impending quality to the narrative despite the reader knowing exactly how things will end. In this novel, the story peters out and, coupled with the disjointed accounts from the point-of-view characters, I can't help but think Mallon intended to write an allegory about the effects of Alzheimer's disease (which would come to overshadow Ronald Reagan's life in the future). The weakest parts of the novel concern the wholly fictionalized personages of Anne Macmurray and Anders Little. I believe Anne Macmurray is a character from Mallon's previous work "Dewey Defeats Truman," and Anders Little is a new creation for this book. The two form an unlikely acquaintance despite their difference in age and political philosophy. The mentality and motivations of these two struck me as less realistic than those of the historical Nancy Reagan and Pamela Harriman - who serve as foils for one another; as two striving females in the game of politics, as well as wives to older, powerful husbands under their care. It's clear to me that Thomas Mallon has a keener insight into the Nixon years, being formative years for him (by his own account, he got to see the Nixons up close, campaigning in his hometown on Long Island in 1968 in an open-top convertible), and I think that's why "Watergate" rings truer than this follow-up novel. In "Finale," Mallon again makes Richard Nixon a POV character and he, along with everyone else in the book, has a hard time understanding what really makes Ronald Reagan tick. In this regard, I think Thomas Mallon is like Ronald Reagan's authorized biographer, Edmund Morris (yet another POV character in the book), who put a fictional version of himself in his biography of Reagan in order to craft an historical account. Reading "Finale," there were moments that I particularly enjoyed, like the scenes at Hofdi House in Reykjavik, as Reagan and Gorbachev discuss disarmament and SDI (aka "Star Wars"). But, overall, I believe this book will leave no lasting impression on me. It will be like the names and faces dimly perceived by a victim of Alzheimer's.
R**Z
One of the Best Books of the Year
This is one of the best books of the year, by a wide margin. It utilizes the same device as Watergate: taking an event or events of great moment and filtering them through the perspectives of a number of disparate characters close enough to the action to have interesting things to say (in Watergate, e.g.: Martha Mitchell). Finale is somewhat different in that the canvas is larger and the characters are playing out their own lives, not just providing a Rashomon-like view of a common action.Here the key characters are Pamela Harriman, Richard Nixon, a fictional NSC deputy director, “Anders Little”, Christopher Hitchens and Nancy Reagan. Each is represented with a certain degree of sympathy even as each is subjected to searching analysis. The most interesting character (beyond Nixon) is Ronald Reagan himself, but Reagan is opaque and beyond analysis. His inscrutability is one of the major themes of the book, his critics seeing him as a simpleton and his supporters seeing his own, unique form of profundity.The two key events of the book, around which the narrative centers, are the Reykjavik summit and the Iran-Contra deal. Each produces a great deal of drama and each reveals, to some degree, Reagan’s essence. One of the best observations, e.g., is that while Gorbachev went to the summit to play chess he was unaware that Reagan was playing poker. The small personality details are exquisite and the period, material-culture details are as well, though we do hear a little too much about the Princeton tiger tattooed on George Shultz’s backside.One of the finest effects of the book is the degree to which the author ‘nails’ Washington and those beset with Potomac Fever. The same is true of his perception of the nature of political life—part ego massage, part patriotism, part obsession, part cynical business moves, and so on. We see just how important the right invitation, the right title, the right phone call, the right private note can be and how trivial they can be in the larger scheme of things. The book succeeds in placing you at the center of events, amid the right people, with all of the right emotions, the profound humanity and nearly Satanic jealousy and opportunism. The book feels right, even as it labors with the great challenge that its central figure is inscrutable.It is a daring book in many ways. It ‘explains’, ultimately, why Nixon taped WH conversations and it shows us Reagan, stricken by Alzheimer’s, in a manner that risks all and, in the end, achieves all. It is a very special book and I recommend it highly.For long-time Mallon fans, two of his fictional characters from Dewey Defeats Truman—Anne Macmurray and Peter Cox—return in Finale, Anne developing a very interesting friendship with the Anders Little character.
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