When last we left Albert Brooks, we thought we had a pretty good idea of his range.
He wrote and directed and starred in his own movies.
He had plum roles in the films of other directors.
He was an occasional voice on The Simpsons.
And, for the little ones, he was the overprotective father in a classic Pixar feature, Finding Nemo.
Throughout, we knew him as the Jewish wit who was ever so much more appealing than Woody Allen. That is, he wasn't, like Woody, generically neurotic, he was neurotic to a point. He had some ideas about life in America that expressed what Woody religiously avoids: a smart political and moral point-of-view. Unlike Woody, he seemed to have genuine affection for other people -- in a Brooks movie, his biggest problem is himself. And so, although he has often seemed too bright and too sensitive for his own good, he has never seemed too arrogant; in almost any situation, you want him to win.
Don't know Albert Brooks? Haven't seen Taxi Driver, Private Benjamin or Broadcast News? His Vanity Fair "Proust Questionnaire" says it all, in short form. Sample:
What is your idea of perfect happiness? Not sure what happiness means. Need to look that up.What is your most treasured possession?
I own the No-Hope Diamond.
If his book sucked, no problem. But it's hard not to like Twenty Thirty: The Real Story of What Happened to America. [To buy the book from Amazon, click here. For the Kindle edition, click here.] Brooks writes well, with wit and imagination. And for those of us who graduated from science fiction soon after puberty, his "futuristic" novel is -- refreshingly --- anything but. Let Brooks explain:
I've always enjoyed stories that take place in the future, but my one disappointment was that the future books described never came. We're not on other planets, there are no flying cars, and the only robots we have in our homes just sweep the floor. So I wanted to write about a future that I thought could really happen.
At first, this future even looks good. There's a pill that makes you thin. Cancer's been cured. (In 2014. Mark your calendar.) At 80, you can be more photogenic than your parents were at 40 --- how you look is simply a function of what you can afford. Car accidents? These cars drive themselves. Just as jets don't really need pilots.
But the world is a closed system. More old people who have all their vitality don't willingly step aside to let the young have their turn --- the young are the first generation to have it worse than their parents. (Sound familiar?) Social services cost a fortune; the national debt is so huge that there's really no other political issue. (Brooks: "Money makes the world go 'round and death stops it in its tracks.") And did I say, in this amazing future, that President Matthew Bernstein is Jewish? Okay: half. (Take your vitamins. It could happen. )
What is real? What is virtual? Who cares about the difference? That's the sort of question Albert Brooks can really get into. That, and who's committing acts of terrorism --- like boarding a bus on its way to an Indian casino, sparing 18 young people but shooting a dozen passengers over 40.
But then comes a problem big enough to drive a novel: a 9.1 earthquake that levels Los Angeles. Fifty thousand dead on the first day. No hospitals capable of helping the injured survivors. Insurance companies declare bankruptcy. The government should step in, but government is broke.
Now the novel moves into high gear. Will America quietly adopt...mercy killing? Can the new Secretary of the Treasury figure out a way to borrow another $20 trillion from the Chinese? And, on the ground, what happens to people who are homeless --- and, seemingly, condemned to be so for years?
The answers are smart, surprising, pointed. Here's more Brooks, commenting on the pre-fab homes for Los Angeles, arriving from --- where else? --- Asia:
The same reason Jews bought Volkswagens was the same reason the Chinese were now partners in the greatest construction project the world had ever seen. People wanted it done quickly, and at a low price, and that was the way it was always going to be. It started with cars, went to food and clothing, and now it was the very places they were going to live and work. Resistance was not just futile, it was gone.
This isn't an Orwellian future; Orwell had no sense of humor. (His biggest joke in "1984" is that it's a flip on 1948, the year the novel was published.) "Twenty Thirty," as futuristic fiction goes, is first cousin to a Kurt Vonnegut novel --- terrible things happen, but we can still make jokes.
Do you dare to dream of a happy ending? Brooks thinks he has written a hopeful one. But then, consider the source.
Cross-posted from HeadButler.com
Does the book assume the same predatory approach to health care as we have now? I guess so, if a main character is stuck with her dad's humongous medical bills, that's an "only in America" scenario that would baffle other more civilized nations. So would a single-payer national health care setup protect us oldies from murder plots by the youngsters? Just wondering ... :) Imagine the political slogan: "Extend Medicare to everybody so your kids don't try to off you!" This has some good possibilities.
Does the book assume we're still drained by the military budget? If we stopped all the military adventuring, we'd have so much extra cash that the health care system wouldn't be stretched at all... Right now, at least half of taxes goes for the adventuring and since the govt keeps borrowing for war - interest kills us for generations.
Love the idea that China bails us out after the earthquake.
http://www.archive.org/details/TheFunGuy
I know Brooks (probably) didn't write that line, but it's one of my favorites and he delivers it perfectly. He and his brother Super Dave are comedic heroes of my childhood; not surprised he's still cranking out genius.
If you don't know him go check him out.
http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0000983/
Just about very project he's been in is great.My favorite moments include him as a weekend anchor in "Broadcast News" with the worst case of flop sweat in the history of mankind and his wonderful turn with Debbie Reynolds in "Mother" among others.
This book sounds of Vonnegut...I love Vonnegut.
Best bit; the White House outsourcing incoming phone calls to India.