LITERARY FICTION

Jennifer Close

The Hopefuls

Alfred A. Knopf

Hardcover, 978-1-101-87561-2 (also available as an ebook, audio book, and on Audible), 320 pgs., $26.95

July 19, 2016

“Never say never. Weird things happen in Texas.” —Colleen

Matt and Beth Kelly are a young married couple in Washington, D.C. Matt, who dressed up as Ronald Reagan as a child and has always known he wanted to run for office, is an ambitious lawyer in the Obama White House, but he’s frustrated that his career isn’t progressing as quickly as he’d like. Beth, a former editorial assistant for Vanity Fair, is a writer for a local website devoted to the trivial and scandalous social lives of the politicos, who feels profoundly dislocated in DC’s “hierarchy of jealousy,” invisible because she doesn’t work in politics.

Jimmy and Ashleigh Dillon are a young married couple from Texas rising fast through DC’s political ranks. Jimmy is young and charismatic; he golfs with the president, and perks, power, and plums fall into his lap. Ashleigh is a Southern belle whose outgoing personality and beauty-pageant looks are Jimmy’s perfect complement. When the Dillons return to Texas, Jimmy is recruited to run for the Railroad Commission, and he summons Matt to manage his campaign. The Kellys decamp for Sugar Land (“where life is sweet”) to help Jimmy turn Texas blue.

Close’s simple plot moves steadily, only bogging down briefly during the second third of the book, though this slowing ironically evokes the peripatetic monotony of the campaign. Close’s cast are generally sympathetic, authentically flawed characters, and Beth is a reliable, though disturbingly passive, narrator. Close examines the dynamics of couples and the corruptions of jealousy, as Beth observes Matt’s “Single-White-Female attitude toward Jimmy” and how Ashleigh is subtly different at home in Sugar Land. “I began to think of her as Texas Ash,” Beth says, “sort of like Malibu Barbie—basically the same, but with a few tweaks and extra accessories.”

The Hopefuls (Knopf, 2016) is frequently, sardonically funny, never more so than when poking fun at self-important functionaries with “Blackberries grafted to their hands,” and exposing contradictions in what we value.

“This election is almost more important,” Matt said. “I mean, if [Obama] loses, then what? All we worked for is gone. He’s basically Jimmy Carter.”

“Jimmy Carter does amazing things,” [Beth] said. I felt like I should defend that peanut farmer. Poor Jimmy Carter, always brushed to the side. Did no one think about Habitat for Humanity?

The Hopefuls, best-selling author Jennifer Close’s third novel, is a sophisticated, acutely perceptive exploration into the effects of ambition and jealousy on individuals, a friendship, and a marriage. Beth’s first-person account is told in hindsight, reflecting on the events of those years from the safety of the future. Beth is an outsider in both DC and Texas, which makes her a sharp observer of the customs of the natives. When she can no longer depend on Matt’s affection or Ashleigh’s friendship, Beth needs to draw on a strength of will that she doesn’t necessarily possess.

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