Now, on the show and in other reviews I have talked about how much I dig Bruce Campbell and his writing.
Make Love is an incredibly fun and funny novel that is a definitely a must read if you are a fan of any of his work, and I desperately want to hear the audio book version.
But Make Love was damn near 2 decades ago, and Bruce hasn’t written any fictional prose since then, as far as I know.
Can this novel possibly stand shoulder to shoulder with the greatness that was Bruce’s first fictional outing or is there some ring rust?
Let’s dive in and find out together, gang.
As per the always, this is your much anticipated ***SPOILER ALERT***
Continuing his journey in self publishing, Bruce is taking a turn he didn’t in The Cool Side Of My Pillow, a turn into Politics.
And the best part is that he doesn’t spend the entire book with his thumb on the scale trying to drag down either side more than the other.
Yes, in true political form he slings tons of mud, but, unlike most people, his target is the dippiness of both sides.
And, despite what we are often told, the entire political spectrum is full of idiots and assholes.
The story here goes as follows: In rural Oregon, a stick up the ass uber conservative and a hippy dippy (heavy emphasis on dippy) liberal are both running for the same County Commissioner seat.
After a disastrous debate at the local Elks Lodge, it’s suggested that both candidates spend a weekend together in the Oregon wilds hiking, camping, surviving.
Now, and I feel this has been a point this is showing up increasingly in my reviews of late, my only real complaint is that this book is so goddamn short.
I get that it’s a satire, and that can only be stretched so far before it starts to wear thin, but I feel like Bruce could have easily expanded this by 20 or 30 pages and you’d never notice.
In a way, it feels like a movie script with slightly more flavor text because in the theater of my mind it felt like I was seeing all of the scenes that were needed, but not all of the scenes I wanted.
That’s not necessarily a bad thing, but I would like to have a bit more depth.
As I say time and again in these reviews, if my biggest complaint is “Man, I wanted more” then I think I’m in a great spot as a reader.
From my point of view, the shots fired at liberals and conservatives are evenly matched.
As I said above, you don’t see him unloading on one side or the other.
At the end of this book I wasn’t left with the sense that Bruce thought either were wackier or more evil than the other.
More that, despite sometimes being diametrically opposed on some issues, both sides have far more in common than either wants to admit and also are equally hypocritical and to blame for the constant deadlock.
Which, personally, that is what I have always felt to be pretty goddamn dead on balls accurate, and I tend to agree with that notion more so the older I get.
Look, gang, we all knew I was probably in the bag for this from the jump since I’m a big Bruce fan and I’ve loved all of his other books, but, that aside, I really feel that this book is a must read given our current political mindset.
Everybody needs to take a hard and, maybe more importantly, honest look at their own tribe and realize they aren’t 100% right or perfect, and that the other side isn’t exactly a cult of loons intent on raising the Anti-Christ.
This story is clever, fair, and just plain fun to read.
Special thanks to @ACFerrell1976 for her continued editorial assistance.
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And finally, given the state of the world, do what you can to leave it a little bit better than you found it.
As difficult as that may be currently, it can have an impact far greater than you know.
Until next time, stay safe out there, gang.
