{"id":609,"date":"2018-12-31T13:03:47","date_gmt":"2018-12-31T13:03:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wordpress.etypegoogle10.com\/?p=609"},"modified":"2018-12-31T13:03:47","modified_gmt":"2018-12-31T13:03:47","slug":"lone-star-book-reviewsby-michelle-newby-nbcccontributing-editor-61","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wordpress.etypegoogle10.com\/?p=609","title":{"rendered":"Lone Star Book ReviewsBy Michelle Newby, NBCCContributing Editor"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/div>\n

<\/span><\/span><\/span>Michelle Newby<\/span> is contributing editor at Lone Star Literary Life, reviewer for Kirkus, <\/span>freelance writer, member of the National Book Critics Circle, blogger at www.TexasBookLover.com, and a moderator at the 20th annual Texas Book Festival. Her reviews appear in Pleiades Magazine, Rain Taxi, World Literature Today, High Country News, South85 Journal, The Review Review, Concho River Review, Monkeybicycle, Mosaic Literary Magazine, Atticus Review, <\/span>and The Collagist.<\/span><\/p>\n

Lone Star Book Reviews
of Texas books appear weekly
at LoneStarLiterary.com<\/a><\/span><\/h1>\n
\n

<\/p>\n

<\/div>\n

<\/span><\/span>LITERARY FICTION<\/p>\n

Jennifer Close<\/span><\/p>\n

The Hopefuls<\/span><\/p>\n

Alfred A. Knopf<\/p>\n

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

July 19, 2016<\/p>\n

\u201cNever say never. Weird things happen in Texas.\u201d \u2014Colleen<\/span><\/p>\n

Matt and Beth Kelly are a young married couple<\/span> 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\u2019s frustrated that his career isn\u2019t progressing as quickly as he\u2019d like. Beth, a former editorial assistant for Vanity Fair<\/span>, is a writer for a local website devoted to the trivial and scandalous social lives of the politicos, who feels profoundly dislocated in DC\u2019s \u201chierarchy of jealousy,\u201d invisible because she doesn\u2019t work in politics.<\/p>\n

Jimmy and Ashleigh Dillon are a young married couple from Texas rising fast through DC\u2019s 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\u2019s 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 (\u201cwhere life is sweet\u201d) to help Jimmy turn Texas blue.<\/p>\n

Close\u2019s 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\u2019s 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\u2019s \u201cSingle-White-Female attitude toward Jimmy\u201d and how Ashleigh is subtly different at home in Sugar Land. \u201cI began to think of her as Texas Ash,\u201d Beth says, \u201csort of like Malibu Barbie\u2014basically the same, but with a few tweaks and extra accessories.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Hopefuls<\/span><\/a><\/span> (Knopf, 2016) is frequently, sardonically funny, never more so than when poking fun at self-important functionaries with \u201cBlackberries grafted to their hands,\u201d and exposing contradictions in what we value.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis election is almost more important,\u201d Matt said. \u201cI mean, if [Obama] loses, then what? All we worked for is gone. He\u2019s basically Jimmy Carter.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cJimmy Carter does amazing things,\u201d [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?<\/p>\n

The Hopefuls,<\/span> best-selling author Jennifer Close\u2019s third novel, is a sophisticated, acutely perceptive exploration into the effects of ambition and jealousy on individuals, a friendship, and a marriage. Beth\u2019s 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\u2019s affection or Ashleigh\u2019s friendship, Beth needs to draw on a strength of will that she doesn\u2019t necessarily possess.<\/p>\n

* * * * *<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Michelle Newby is contributing editor at Lone Star Literary Life, reviewer for Kirkus, freelance writer, member of the National Book Critics Circle, blogger at www.TexasBookLover.com, and a moderator at the 20th annual Texas Book Festival. Her reviews appear in Pleiades Magazine, Rain Taxi, World Literature Today, High Country News, South85 Journal, The Review Review, Concho […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-609","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.etypegoogle10.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/609","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.etypegoogle10.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.etypegoogle10.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.etypegoogle10.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.etypegoogle10.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=609"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.etypegoogle10.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/609\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.etypegoogle10.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=609"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.etypegoogle10.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=609"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.etypegoogle10.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=609"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}