Can you write a political novel set in Texas—or even the U.S. at this point, with how crazy it’s all become—and still have it work? How? Well, Pulitzer Prize winner Lawrence Wright found a way in this rollicking, engrossing novel of Lone Star state politics.
Indeed, in the opening pages, Governor Abbott himself makes a calculated appearance at a state representative’s funeral service, despite the fact that the departed (and most of the county) don’t care much for him. The governor and several other Texas political notables appear throughout these pages. Even some of the fictional characters are unmistakably rooted in real-life Texas politicians.
Talk quickly turns to finding a worthy replacement for the late representative. After appearing in a dramatic local news story, rancher Sonny Lamb soon finds himself being courted by a slick lobbyist from Austin to take up the mantle on the Republican ticket.
Sonny’s complete inexperience with political life allows Wright to induct him (and us) into an educational yet entertaining primer in a world most of us barely even glimpse in the news.
The writing is packed yet personable, and manages to command interest even when delving into some of the more arcane aspects of political maneuvering.
Sonny’s (and Wright’s) wry observations are often dryly funny, and undeniably from the vantage point of someone equally as intimate with West Texas as well as with the political machinery of the state Capitol.
Respectfully rendering even the people he disagrees with, Wright reminds us these are still human beings. Yet he points up their wrongdoings without preaching, and clearly has a few bones to pick with all sides.
The rounded, complex characters bring their own entire inner worlds—and agendas—into office. The book avoids clichés except perhaps in one oddly polemic scene with a feminist teacher touring the Capitol with her students as Sonny arrives for his first day. A medical emergency ensues in the same scene, and a paramedic asks the teacher to lend the patient a couple of her prescription pills. (Ex-EMT here, and that is not done.) Those are the only surprising off notes in a long, engaging novel that otherwise feels spot-on and evenhanded.
It also functions as a great fictional counterpoint to his real-life documentary series, God Save Texas (currently streaming on Max), which is also very highly recommended.
MR. TEXAS:
A NOVEL
Lawrence Wright
Alfred A. Knopf
482 pages
Author website: https://www.lawrencewright.com/