No Way to Treat a First Lady

A Novel

By: Christopher Buckley

Narrated by: Tim Matheson

Length: 6 hrs and 15 mins

Publisher's summary

Christopher Buckley, the best-selling author of the comic classics The White House Mess and Thank You for Smoking, returns to the funniest place in America: Washington, DC.

Elizabeth Tyler MacMann, the first lady of the United States, has been charged with killing her philandering husband, the president of the United States. In the midst of a bedroom spat, she allegedly hurled a historic Paul Revere spittoon at him, with tragic results. The attorney general has no choice but to put the first lady on trial for assassination.

The media has never warmed to Beth MacMann (her nickname in the tabloids is "Lady Bethmac"), and as America girds for a scandalous, sensational trial, Beth reaches out to the only defense attorney she trusts, Boyce "Shameless" Baylor, who charges $1,000 an hour and has represented a Who's Who of scoundrels: murderous running backs, society wife-killers, Los Alamos spies, and national-security sellouts.

Why Boyce Baylor? Because Beth loved him once, when they were law students. Boyce wanted to marry her, but Beth chose the future president instead. Now, after all these years, Boyce has a second chance. To what lengths will a shameless lawyer go to win the Trial of the Millennium and regain the love of his life?

Buckley has been described by the Los Angeles Times Book Review as "one of the best and surest political humorists in America" and by Entertainment Weekly as "a superb writer of politically incorrect satire." No Way to Treat a First Lady is flat-out hilarious. And furthermore, it's a love story for our time.

Don't miss Christopher Buckley, Steve Martin, and other humorists discussing their craft at the New Yorker Festival.

©2002 Christopher Taylor Buckley (P)2002 Random House Inc., Random House Audio, a Division of Random House Inc.

Critic reviews

"The political humor is first-rate as usual, as Buckley has plenty of fun with the slimy, silly mess that is Beltway politics...should keep Buckley on the A list of American satirists." (Publishers Weekly)
"Unspeakably and endlessly funny. Unless you're a former president....Wicked humorist Buckley shoots fish in a barrel and makes them dance." (Kirkus, Starred Review)

The Entertainment of the Millennium!

What a spectacular book! Witty, seductive, and wonderfully entertaining-- I loved every minute of it.

Enjoyable mind candy

Anthony is on-target when he says "technically flawed." Don't expect great writing here and Tim Matheson's narration is, well - let's just say that I'm sure he's not giving up acting to narrate full time! ;-) The story, however, is engaging, outrageous and with sufficient satire to give it a "tangy after-bite". There's nothing of substance, but it's a fun ride. Well-worth the time spent listening. Enjoy!

Entertaining

Another good book by Christopher Buckley. Entertaining satire of the.politics of the United States in recent years

Very light, fun, leave critical thinking behind

I enjoyed the book. I like "lawyer/courtroom" drama. I also have a pretty good imagination, so I could let my critical side let go of the "What?!?" aspects of this book and just enjoy it. And I mostly did. It's fairly light and rather fun. Even the fairly dark parts don't need to be taken very seriously. The narrator did an excellent job, handling both the male and female characters very well. If you enjoy legal procedurals that involve murder and can buy the premise, and are in the mood for something light, you'll probably enjoy it.

An Unexpected Treasure

I puchased this program thinking it would be a corny but amusing timepasser; instead, I was treated to a witty, fun and energetic story. This is a good book, not a Pulitzer-prize winner, but a very good book. I was laughing out loud which caused problems as my wife tried to sleep next to me. Give it a chance.

Hilariously Prescient 2002 novel

Who could envision a philandering President of the United States, an unhappy First Lady, a well-respected Navy doctor brought low by accusations of lying and drinking? The similarities with modern times don’t end there. The author was dead wrong on one key point. The Boston Red Sox won the World Series two years after publication.

Absolutely wonderful! I loved it.

Great story, great narration. Didn't have a slow spot in it. Great plot, unpredictable. Audible, please give us more like this one!

I could not stop listening!!

Would you recommend this audiobook to a friend? If so, why?

Yes for sure! What a great book. I loved how I thought I knew what was happening then I didnt!

Any additional comments?

Great book all the way around, Love, Murder, Mystery and I laughed out loud. My favorite Line in the book was.... A 4 letter word for a women that ends in unt?

So so so bad

What was most disappointing about Christopher Buckley’s story?

Poorly written, eye-rolling story paired with characters you don't give a rat's ass about equals a waste of my time listening to it. I kept hoping it would get better and it really didn't.

How could the performance have been better?

Having listened to many audible titles, I find that the narrator makes all the difference in my enjoyment of the book. Tim Matheson, while a fine screen actor, is not a good voice actor. His slight variations of tone for the separate characters was not enough to delineate who was speaking and it was easy to get confused. The more I listened, the less I liked his reading of the book. And that's what it was. Just a reading. He brought nothing at all to the story, in my opinion, actually subtracted from an already thin story.

Any additional comments?

There were many good comments in the reviews about this book and how funny it was. Perhaps my sense of humor is not aligned with the writer's because there was not one single bit of it that was humorous. All of it was overwrought, stupid drivel. (Yes, I do feel strongly about it.) I regret wasting a credit and my time on this book.