Vote for Quimby -- And Quick

by Harry Miles Muheim

244 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1978

Reviews

[Ed Heinzelman]

As a retired political writer, I found this bit of satire funny, relevant, and outdated. It was written in 1978 so takes a lot of punches at Richard Nixon. Remarkably the author picks New Jersey for his shenanigans and it still holds remarkably true today. Campaigns run on polling by campaign consultants. Many of these things are still prevalent today in an even more sophisticated form. The cover labels this "A Comic Erotic Novel About 'The New Politics'". In 2021 it is more bawdy than erotic but it isn't necessarily going to meet the all of the expectations of our #MeToo era although there is no forced or non-consensual sex.

[Jessica]

This bills itself as "A comic erotic novel about "the new politics"" but really it simply stands as a testament to the misogyny and racism of the late 1970s. But let's take them these claims one by one:

Comic? Yes, in fact, it is humorous. The funniest thing is how the plotting and scheming here is pretty much our current political climate. It's hit or miss, not laugh-out-loud funny but the overall trend is one of absurdity.

Erotic? Not even close. Unless you count a white man getting to bang a half Black/half Indian call girl for free, "erotic." There are more details about sex in a young adult novel, but I did learn that screwing on a train is ideal because it requires little work on the part of the participants. (?!) There is also a visit to a town where everyone gets to fuck all the time that is supposed to be shocking but I guess the author couldn't predict what would happen in Vegas or Amsterdam.

Novel? Kind of. The writing is pretty boring and the main character isn't likable from the get-go. There is no development and the ending is predictable, but not believable.

I actually started this wondering why this book wasn't reviewed more and/or passed around more since Christie's attempt at the presidency et. al. but then I realized that aside from whatever terrible binding technique was used that causes the pages to chip out in 10-12 page chunks, it really moves downhill fast. Things could be wrapped up a lot more quickly, and the few funny moments just aren't worth it.

I do wonder, however, if any of this is related to Springfield's Mayor Quimby in the Simpsons. The book makes a big deal about one of the characters looking a lot like JFK (not Quimby though - it's Quick) but I don't see enough "funny" here to justify an homage to this book.