Book Review/American Savior
American Savior
A novel of divine politics
By Ronald Merullo
Hard cover $24.95
Algonquin Books of Chapel Hill
By BILL DUNCAN
The News-Review
The reading public is saturated with back biting politics, so Ronald Merullo’s “American Savior,” a satire on the Presidential race is a welcome relief. He gets a third candidate in the race for the White House – none other than Jesus. Don’t get the plot mixed up with religion because it is not blasphemous nor is it preachy, but it is a delightful parody on American politics.
This is not the first time Merullo has used such a plot to laughingly write a satire with a sting within its dialog. He is the author of “Golfing with God,” and “Breakfast with Buddha,”
both books written in Merullo’s unique style. “American Savior” is as fresh as today’s headlines where the two major political parties compete nightly for sound bites.
The story is told by a TV news reporter, Russ Thomas from station WZIZ in West Zenith, Massachusetts whose wacky boss, a cigar chomping anchor named Wales calls him in for an assignment – to find and interview the miracle worker that saved a child who fell from a window in a three-story public housing apartment in a troubled, run down neighborhood. The skeptical reporter believes the story is a welfare mother’s hoax trying to get sympathy and to manipulate the media. That was before he encounters Jesus in a second coming to save America.
Merullo writes a “what if” novel to poke fun at how we Americans get so caught up in the minutia of politics. The novel is an amusing take on the current political campaign for the highest office in this country.
The TV reporter’s mother is Catholic and his father is Jewish and he has sort of fallen into disbelief of any deity and he certainly doesn’t believe it is politically correct to even mention the G word in the electronic media, or for that matter in the print media.
After the first reports of a miracle man touching the child and healing if after what appears to be a fatal fall, a second incident is reported involving this strange person and the cynical TV reporter is again sent out to hunt for and interview the mysterious miracle worker. When he finally meets him the man introduces himself as Jesus. Yes, that Jesus.
That Jesus wants Thomas (if you remember your Biblical history, the disciple that doubted) to become his campaign manager and as such organize his nation-wide campaign.
This requires him to resign his reporter’s job and he is reluctant to tell his boss about his decision, but discovers Jesus has already been convinced Wales who is himself also resigning to join the campaign.
Jesus insists that Thomas bring his parents, Arnold and Maria Thomas, into the campaign but Thomas argues, “my dad is Jewish.” Jesus reminds him that he also is a Jew.
The media immediately tags this third party as the Divinity Party. The run for the White House is a seat-of-the-pants operation that is taking on the well-oiled machines of the Republican and Democratic candidates.
Thomas manages to put together a bizarre group of campaign disciples, a mixed group of skeptics and saints that travel across country as Jesus makes speeches. His reaching out in a political campaign causes many fundamentalist Christians to denounce him as a phony and an imposter, quoting the words of the one they revere as the Christ that there will be false prophets speaking in Jesus’ name. The campaign deals with hot-button political issues like abortion, separation of church and state, race, welfare and race. At one time, just before an important press conference, Jesus disappears and law enforcement and his campaign workers fear foul play, only to discover Jesus is in the ghetto playing touch football in the mud with black kids.
In one of the briefings on what to expect from the feeding frenzy from the press was on the issue of national defense. Jesus is warned that he may be asked: “What do you, propose if the U.S. is attacked again, turn the other cheek?’” They will mock you, the press agent admonishes him.
“It would not be the first time,” Jesus replies.
Merullo’s satire is just that, but in the process he raises pertinent questions about the current and woeful state of politics in America with not so veiled references to our current talking heads and if you can read past the humor you will probably see Anderson Cooper, Bill O’Reilly, Wolf Blitzer, Cokie Roberts, Jim Lehrer, George Stephanopoulos, Rush Limbaugh and George Will somewhere in the pages of this delightful spoof on American politics.
“American Savior” will be released August 26 and right behind that release is Christopher Buckley’s “Supreme Courtship,” due out Sept. 9, another satirical novel about a TV judge who gets appointed to the Supreme Court. Amidst the pseudo seriousness in the current political atmosphere, these two books bring a touch of comic relief.
(Bill Duncan is editor of The Senior Times. He also writes a weekly column each Thursday for The News-Review. He can be reached at bduncan@nrtoday.com or by writing to P.O. Box 812’ Roseburg, OR 97470.)