The Sun King

David Ignatius is a man of wit, sensitivity, and excellent fancy. He did a great job of creating an update of a Great-Gatsby like novel, with some well drawn wit and sarcasm to boot. But the book stands on it's own as a fantastic and sensitive tale of romance and power. What a tremendous love story! And yes, I did have considerable sympathy for Carl Sandburg Galvin, his Gatsby character. Candace Ridgway is cold ambition in the flesh, a Randian heroine carried to her logical conclusion. A (more) pathetic Hedda Gabbler. Facts are her pistols, and her aim is deadly and true. This is one to cry over, ladies (and gentlemen.)

FINISHED THIS BOOK IN ONE DAY. SUCH A CHANGE FROM HIS OTHER NOVELS, WHICH I FOUND TO BE MUNDANE AND IMMATURE. ALSO WATCHED HIS VIDEO ON INTERNET REGARDING THIS NOVEL AND SENT AN E-MAIL TO HIM APPLAUDING THIS BOOK. I AM PLEASED THAT HE HAS MOVED AWAY FROM THE SPY STUFF, EVEN IF IT IS JUST THIS ONE BOOK.

Since I've always admired Fitzgerald's "The Great Gatsby," I found "The Sun King" a startling, inventive recreation of Fitzgerald's romantic tale, updated for the 1990s. At first, I was wary--so many scenes and so much of the language seemed to come right out of "Gatsby"! Then I was intrigued by the changes in circumstances necessary to update the novel from the 1920s to the 1990s. What were the circumstances under which the two lovers met and parted? What kept them apart? How would the vastly different roles of men and women in the 1990s change their romance? What was the source of Sandy Galvin's corruption? All these questions (and many others) found more than satisfactory answers in Ignatius's novel. A new Gatsby? You bet! And it is a fascinating look at life inside the Beltway in the 1990s!

Ignatius fans (and I am one) knew that he could render the shadowy world of espionage. But who knew he had a gift for comedy and romance? Sandy Galvin's stewardship of Washington's only major daily is the only Washington satire of recent years that actually outdoes reality. Ignatius's wisecracking narrator skewers the journalism scene with a light-hearted cynicism that would do credit to Evelyn Waugh. And Galvin's courtship of his lost love--and the painful conclusion of his Gatsbyesque quest--progress from romantic fun into a truly poignant depiction of real-life heartache. I read THE SUN KING in one sitting. The book's a winner!

I had read and thoroughly enjoyed the author's journalism/espionage thriller A Firing Offense, but this is indeed a departure from that. His characters and their interactions do echo those in The Great Gatsby, but not apishly so. David Cantor, the narrator, is actually not nearly as nice a guy as Nick Carraway. In Sandy, the author definitely creates a believable Gatsby for the turn of the century, and Candace makes a creditable high powered woman of our age, as well as an understandably unattainable love object. Mix these characters with all that delicious, I would think none too exaggerated, Washington atmosphere, the author's love/hate relationship with journalism and the media, and his stylish writing and there's enough for a good read. Little did I know I would be emotionally involved enough to feel deeply for the fate of this power couple.