Atomic Candy: A Novel - Softcover

Burke, Phyllis

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0871133644 ISBN 13: 9780871133649

Publisher: Atlantic Monthly Pr, 1990

Synopsis

Joe and Kate Albion--a couple obsessed with Marilyn Monroe and JFK--become the first family of Boston and raise their daughter Marilyn in the era of Sputnik, Filene's Basement, feminism, and the ever-present Richard Nixon

About this title

From Library Journal:

The time is September 1952, the place Boston. Kate Albion, tireless Irish politico and foremost champion of JFK, is thrown into such a state by Nixon's Checkers speech that she prematurely gives birth. Husband Joe, having recently served as Marilyn Monroe's Marine honor guard, is so smitten with the blonde bombshell that he insists on naming their baby daughter for her. Kate consents, provided that Joe agrees to run for office. Aided by this eccentric duo, and the novel's cast of colorful characters, little Marilyn grows up to fulfill her destiny as an actor in Nixon's downfall. Interspersed with quotes from political speeches, contemporary songs, and the Nixon impeachment hearings, Burke's first novel is a rich and zany tale that admirably re-creates the pre-Watergate era and conveys a wacky nostalgia for our turbulent past. Humorous and engaging.
- Kimberly G. Allen, Georgetown Univ. Law Lib., Washington, D.C
Copyright 1989 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Publishers Weekly:

Burke's debut "pops and fizzes, but overdoses on confection," wrote PW . "Breezy, jazzy, joke-packed, this novel, which opens a window on blue-collar Boston Irish, could have been a delight--but, padded with repetition and cliche, trivializes recent history and human experience."
Copyright 1990 Reed Business Information, Inc.

About this edition

• Publisher: Atlantic Monthly Pr
• Publication date: 1990
• ISBN 10: 0871133644
• ISBN 13: 9780871133649
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 367