Fast-paced and engrossing, this political melodrama seems ready-made for Hollywood. On the one hand, the plot is appropriately Byzantine; on the other, the characters have little nuance to be lost in translation. Narrator Ben Shamas is a gifted lawyer losing himself in work and drink two years after the death of his daughter in a boating accident. But he agrees to help his old friend and Yale classmate, the powerful and highly principled Bobby Parrish, campaign for the U. S. Senate. That decision prompts Ben to confront not only the devious campaign strategies of Bobby's opponent, the unscrupulous congressman Richard Wheatley, but also his lingering desire for Bobby's wife, Laura; the political fallout from ill-advised investments Bobby's ailing sister made; and his anger about his daughter's death and the consequent dissolution of his marriage. The novel has enough plot for a book twice its size, and the behind-the-scenes glimpses of American political machinations are absorbing. Although the brevity of the novel ill-serves its characters, who never fully shrug free of their stereotypical underpinnings, Glickman's first effort succeeds as a skillfully crafted tale about the ruthlessness and ingenuity of American politics. (Apr.)
Publishers Weekly - Publisher's Weekly
Fast-paced and engrossing, this political melodrama seems ready-made for Hollywood. On the one hand, the plot is appropriately Byzantine; on the other, the characters have little nuance to be lost in translation. Narrator Ben Shamas is a gifted lawyer losing himself in work and drink two years after the death of his daughter in a boating accident. But he agrees to help his old friend and Yale classmate, the powerful and highly principled Bobby Parrish, campaign for the U. S. Senate. That decision prompts Ben to confront not only the devious campaign strategies of Bobby's opponent, the unscrupulous congressman Richard Wheatley, but also his lingering desire for Bobby's wife, Laura; the political fallout from ill-advised investments Bobby's ailing sister made; and his anger about his daughter's death and the consequent dissolution of his marriage. The novel has enough plot for a book twice its size, and the behind-the-scenes glimpses of American political machinations are absorbing. Although the brevity of the novel ill-serves its characters, who never fully shrug free of their stereotypical underpinnings, Glickman's first effort succeeds as a skillfully crafted tale about the ruthlessness and ingenuity of American politics.
Publishers Weekly - Cahners\\Publishers_Weekly
Lawyer Ben Shamas has been in an emotional vacuum since the death of his young daughter two years ago. Nevertheless, Bobby Parrish, the state's lieutenant governor, asks for Ben's help as he runs for the U.S. Senate. Ben and Bobby are old friends, having gone to high school and Yale together until Bobby went off to Vietnam. Upon Bobby's return to Yale, he and Ben shared many of the dubious joys of the 1960s; these retroactively reprehensible indulgences haunt Bobby as his opponent gears up a dirty campaign. Ben investigates who is responsible for the leaks within the campaign organization while trying to keep Bobby's ailing sister from being indicted for her part in a questionable land deal. Ben must also deal with unwanted advances from Bobby's lonely wife. By getting involved in something bigger than his own self-pity, Ben finds a measure of redemption. It's hard to believe that this is Glickman's first novel; the prose is smooth and self-assured, with a consistently convincing narrative voice.
On his first outing, Glickman takes us into the deep waters of political turmoil in a tale that carries its resemblance to All the King's Men a bit too heavily and far.
When we first meet Ben Shamas, he is having a hard time of it: Two years after the death of his only child, he has divorced his wife, left his law firm, and lost his ambition. Although he allows himself an occasional drunken binge, work has become his preferred escape: "Most activities that cause you to forget your preoccupations, who you are, or what day it isdrugs, alcohol, sex, violent exerciseare transitory or have unpleasant sequels, or both. But work is safe and predictable." Ben plods cheerlessly away as an appeals attorney and tries not to dwell on things until Jeannie Parrish, a childhood friend, comes to him with a problem. Jeannie's brother Bobby is running for the US Senate, and Jeannie is worried that a shady real-estate deal she made a few years back will be found out and used against Bobby in the campaign. Can Ben help? He tries, and is quickly enmeshed in an escalating series of intrigues and political dirty tricks. An old college classmate threatens to expose Bobby as a quondam acid-head; the opposing candidate's campaign manager (a childhood friend of Ben's) discovers that Bobby was treated by a psychiatrist. As if this weren't enough, Bobby's wife (once Ben's girlfriend) starts coming on to Ben over telephones that turn out to be tapped. The overriding motive for all the schemes seems to be vengeance; neither the problems themselves nor the anger behind them turns out to be especially deep, however, since in the end they are cleared up quickly, neatly, and with small surprise.
A skillful exposition of very little: Glickman seems to have mastered the politician's art of using rhetoric to inflate the mundane without transfiguring its shape.
"...a political novel that restores one's sense of the human depth, the psychological pressures, and the moral questions that go with the territory. A richly rewarding novel with complex, believable characters who develop in the course of engaging in vividly and intelligently rendered experiences." —Christian Science Monitor "...arresting. On the brink of a new political season, it's nice to read a novel in which what happens in a campaign is less important than what happens to the people engaged in it." —The New York Times Sunday Book Review "Sounding the Waters is taut and involving, written so cleanly it squeaks....Glickman is best at showing how the 1960's slogan 'The personal is political' has been stood on its head. Today the political devours the personal." —Los Angeles Times Sunday Book Review "Suspenseful...masterly...marvelous. This beautifully engaging work, with its deft turns of phrase, resonates with a well-told tale. It has tough dialogue when necessary, pastoral description when warranted, urban sophistication when needed. Sounding the Waters creates a rip tide of excitement." —The Providence Journal "This is the novel Primary Colors promised to be, but Glickman takes the high road, turning his back on cheap gossip and making fictional politicians seem quite real. Dramatizing the complicated process of running for office and contrasting it against the starkness of human motives and desires, he's produced a cliffhanger of a novel, right down to the final speeches of the final debate of the closing days of the campaign." —Alan Cheuse , National Public Radio "It's hard to believe that this is Glickman's first novel; the prose is smooth and self-assured, with a consistently convincing narrative voice." —Booklist "Glickman's first effort succeeds as a skillfully crafted tale about the ruthlessness and ingenuity of American politics." —Publishers Weekly