Sammy's Hill [Paperback]

As a devotee of Helen Fielding and Candace Bushnell, my bar is exceptionally high for fiction where the heroine's exploits include men, alcohol, and email drama. However, Ms Gore's DC answer to Bridget Jones rises to the occasion and made me laugh out loud many times throughout the two days where I could not put this book down. This insider's view of politics humanizes an otherwise dry area of subject matter and made me want to learn more about what happens as the behind the scenes staffers work long hard days for their political seniors. One need not even agree with Ms Gore's brand of health care policy to enjoy a delightful, well researched and humorous read. My favorite addition was the use of Blackberry as a verb - well done throughout the book.

It's been a long time since I've felt so close to such a wonderful character. Thank GOD there is finally a heroine out there who is utterly human. And who doesn't want to read a book that will make you laugh out loud and demand to be read in one seating?

Ignore the (very few) pompous, spiteful and annoying amazon.com reviews below (um, is it just me or have there been a ton of frustrated ex-LIT majors out there who do nothing but write bad reviews lately?) and BUY THIS BOOK! You will laugh at the heroine's fabulous neurosis...empathize with her career foibles and successes...and enjoy a good story.

This is not "chick-lit," in fact, don't try to classify this as anything other then a fantastic, funny and fresh example of fiction.

Let me first say that I was one of 15 interns for Vice President Gore in Spring Semester 2000 and got to experience politics from the OVP's office in the U.S. Capitol. During my internship, the Washington Post had an article about Gore in which I learned that as a young man, he was divided between wanting to be novelist and wanting to be a politician. Who knows how a career as a novelist would have panned out had he chosen that path? I was hoping that he would write a novel after the disappointment of 2000 and deciding against running again.

When I heard that Kristin was writing a novel about politics, I was thrilled to see someone in the Gore family pick up on Al's youthful dream. I was anxiously looking forward to reading her novel, trusting in her writing ability since she worked as a writer on "Futurama" and "SNL". Still, there's always a little suspicion that she got a book contract because of who she is rather than natural ability. What a refreshing surprise her first novel turned out to be!

To call it "chick lit" is derogatory and limits her readership audience to a smaller pool. I think her novel would appeal to anyone, male or female, who has worked on Capitol Hill or the White House or who is generally interested in politics and the people who work for the politicians. The little details sprinkled throughout the novel, from reading "The Hotline" and "Roll Call", are familiar to anyone who has worked on Capitol Hill. Kristin definitely knows her topic well and presents them realistically, albeit with much humor thrown in.

This is a rare novel in which I laughed out loud quite frequently. From her dead on digs against Bush in the guise of "President Pile", to the latest neurotic mistakes of her heroine, "Sammy's Hill" is wickedly funny and ultimately satisfying. I especially love the different characters she works with and maintains friendship with, particularly Sammy's unique fondness for telemarketers, an interesting quirk itself. Even her fish, Shackleton, offers humor that brings out Sammy's witty outlook regarding his premature death pose.

The novel covers about a year and a half and how quickly politics can change in that year. Politicians seen as frontrunners can stumble, and those who were discounted could easily fill the void. Sammy's relationships seems to mirror such political changes. One of the brightest ideas about the novel is Kristin's lack of labeling characters as "Democrat" or "Republican", "liberal" or "conservative". She presents her character as real people and readers get to know them without labels predetermining one's bias for or against a character.

If I have any complaints about the novel, there are just a few. One being Sammy's overanalysis of everything, though its possibly part of her charm and offers much insight into the workings of the female mind. Sometimes she carried on a little bit too much, making me feel neurotic as I read Sammy's thoughts. The other complaint is that I would have liked the novel to be a tad bit longer. The character Charlie should have been developed more, though it does leave room for a possible sequel in which we get to know him a bit more. All in all, an impressive debut novel and I certainly hope Kristin will write another one soon, either a continuation of Sammy's experiences, or one with new characters and topic altogether. Her sense of humor is too rare in novels, so she can definitely sell funny in future novels.

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