Watergate: A Novel

Unlike most comedic novels, this one doesn't wear thin in parts OR go "over the top" to get laughs --it's a consistently good narrative and consistently funny.

It's not pretending to be history, but the author transmits the history of the events effortlessly - I would listen to any historical fiction he writes, no matter the topic. Some will dislike or dispute the portrait of historical characters, but they are all so human, I just want to read their biographies after his playful introduction to their roles in the tragicomedy - and I had absolutely no interest in Watergate before this listen.

The Alice Longworth Roosevelt character is remarkable - She could stare down The Right Honourable Violet Crawley, Countess of Grantham! Whatever truth to her portrait in this novel, she will be my first biographical follow-up project.

The narrator is excellent, toeing the line between impersonation and lively narration without going overboard.

I downloaded this for the social history of the period but am now interested in Watergate itself. Laugh while you learn!

An intriguing tour-de-force. Mallon retraces the path of the Watergate conspiracy, but at a somewhat oblique angle. Most of the characters are based on (or at least named after!) real people, many of them major players in the burglary or the coverup. The novel is written from multiple points of view; the most extensive POV characters are all safely dead and beyond the reach of their lawyers, but I'm not sure they would care - Mallon applies an even-handed and deeply compassionate brush to everyone. Even Nixon comes off as a human being, and Pat Nixon is given an especially sympathetic treatment.

The obliqueness of the narrative becomes more obvious as it progresses. Time and again, we see the lead-up to important milestones in the coverup, or the aftermath, but we don't see the actual events themselves. The only direct contact we have with the Senate Watergate hearings is when Alice Roosevelt Longworth - Teddy's daughter and one of the major POV characters - attends a morning of John Dean's testimony. At another point, late in the unfolding crisis, we see Nixon listening to the tape of the infamous June 23rd meeting with Haldeman, but it's a retrospective moment: the "real-time" narrative of that date, earlier in the book, skips the meeting entirely.

The effectiveness of this depends on what you were hoping to find. As an old hand at Watergate lore, I was hoping for a more dramatic rendition of the key events. I was initially disappointed, but Mallon gradually won me over with his attention to detail and his provocative and totally believable characterizations. The main POV characters - Longworth, Howard Hunt, Fred LaRue, Rose Mary Woods, Pat Nixon, and Nixon himself - would be fascinating even they weren't, however tangentially, caught up in one of the biggest scandals ever to engulf the US government. Hunt's life in particular has the makings of a real tragedy.

Joe Barrett's gravelly narration is perfectly adapted to the quiet introspection of much of the novel. And yes, his impression of Nixon is spot on.

One of the best. Highlighted all the many things I had forgotten. I was married on the day of the Watergate break in, so I have always been interested in Watergate. This book is a novel told from the inside not like All The President's Men which was told by outsiders.
Wonderful narration, great voices without caricature.
Great characters, humanizes the people involved without forgiving them their sins.

The great characterizations. Alice Roosevelt Longworth, Mrs. Dorothy Hunt, and Fred LaRue are probably my favorites. A great refresher course on the craziness of Watergate.

Fred LaRue was a tragic figure. He lived with the knowledge that he had accidently killed his father and was a true Southern gentleman. He was loyal and did his best to help

Yes, but it was way too long to listen to in one sitting. I did listen to the last 4 hours in one sitting though.

Presidential Rag by Arlo Guthrie
You said you didn't know,
that the cats with the bugs were there,
and you never go along with that kind of stuff no where,
but that just isn't the point man,
that's the wrong wrong way to go,
if you didn't know about that one, well then what else don't you know,
You said that you were lied to,
well that aint hard too see,
but you must have been fooled again by your friends across the sea,
and maybe you were fooled again by your people here at home,
because nobody could talk like you,
and know what's going on,
Nobody elected your family,
and we didn't elect your friends,
no one voted for your advisors,
and nobody wants amends,
You're the one we voted for, so you must take the blame,
For handing out authority to men who were insane,
You say its all fixed up now, you've got new guys on the line,
but you had better remember this while you still got the time,
Mothers still are weeping for their boys that went to war,
father still are asking what the whole damn thing was for,
and People still are hungry and people still are poor,
And an honest week of work these days don't feed the kids no more,
Schools are still like prisons,
cuz we don't learn how to live,
and everybody wants to take, nobody wants to give,
Yes you will be remembered, be remembered very well,
and if I live a long life, all the stories I could tell,
A many who are in in poverty of sickness and of grief,
hell yes,
you will be remembered, be remembered very well,
You said you didn't know,
that the that the cats with the bugs were there,
You'd never go along with that kind of stuff no where
But that just isn't the point man,
That's the wrong ,wrong way to go,
You didn't know about that one,
well then what else don't you know.

You may enjoy this book if you already know the history of watergate and the key players involved. But if you don't have that background, the book just jumps right in without any introduction. On audio, it is almost impossible to follow and keep straight. I listened to about 1/3 of it, and gave up.

I'd recommend that if you do pick it up, go to wikipedia and memorize the key players first. That way at least you'll know about the characters as the book progresses.

He is awesome. He uses a pitch perfect inflection to convey shades or irony, bemusement, and sarcasm, not to mention a full range of other emotions.

This is a wonderful book, particuarly if you lived through Watergate, and even if you didn't. Mallon tackles the whole affairs from the viewpoint of richly drawn characters who come right out of the pages of newspapers -- E. Howard Hunt, Mrs. Nixon, Alice Longworth Roosevelt, Magruder, Dean, Woods, and of course Nixon himself. Though the story is imagined, at least from the inner thoughts of the characters, Mallon's imagination is as sharp and plausible as a scapel. You come to think: Oh, so that's why Mitchell did that, or: Well, now we know what Rosemary Woods was doing. And Mallon's scapel slices deep -- poor Tricia, poor Elliott Richardson.

If you lived through Watergate, it's fun to be the fly on the imaginative wall of Thomas Mallon. If not, here's a better window into Washington than any civics textbook.

Read this book! Please.

I had forgotten the chronology of the Watergate scandal and how all the people involved were connected. Though much of the dialogue is "best guess" stuff, it did explain a lot to me about the possible motivations for all of the participants, including Nixon and rosemary Woods. There were a few surprises!

It brought recent history alive.

Nixon's secretary Rose Woods - a real human being.

He did the voices of Nixon, Kissinger, etc. incredibly well.

For those skimming the reader reviews, here's the bottom line: This is a terrific read.

Very few books motivate me to buy multiple copies for friends / colleagues. Fewer still cause me to insist that they actually read and subsequently discuss the book. This is one of them.

Though I keep telling myself that this was "only" fiction, my perception of Watergate has been forever changed. (Others upon whom I have imposed the book express the same sentiment.)

Yet, this is NOT a political book.

It is a character study. The events of Watergate are there in the same way that the walls of a room define a certain space. The book's hallmark is its singular focus on people -- their thoughts and emotions, their ambitions, their petty rivalries, their fears. Every character becomes human.

The known events of Watergate suddenly make sense -- almost inevitable, really -- because we come to understand the people behind those events.

And, therein, lies Watergate's brilliance. You have to keep telling yourself, "Wait a second, this is a novel." The book is not judgmental, it is not an apology, it is simply a fictional character study.

And it is remarkable.