Review: Finale: A Novel of the Reagan Years by Thomas Mallon

Finale: A Novel of the Reagan Years by Thomas Mallon
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

As a general preference, I prefer reading non-fiction (history, biographies etc.) Actual events, motivations and personalities tend to be more fascinating and illuminating than what might be imagined or created. Finale certainly had an interesting cast of characters: Ronald Reagan, Nancy Reagan, Richard Nixon, Jimmy Carter, Don Regan, Pamela Harriman, Margaret Thatcher in my own personal favorite, the witty and cynical Christopher Hitchens. I found Hitchens characterization to be the most interesting and fun of all.

The book is certainly gossipy – – some, maybe most of it has some merit or truth. I don't think that the book shows Reagan in a favorable light, after all, most of the events described happen in the latter part of his second term. There is some question as to the mental and intellectual capabilities of Reagan given his age. The book is not flattering to Nancy Reagan either – – though I do give her credit for her loyalty and love for her husband.

There are stories within stories, some interesting, some not. I started off the book with great enthusiasm and interest but that waned as I got farther within the book. I may check out the author's book on Watergate. This is the type of book that you might get on loan from a library to read.


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Behind the Ronald Reagan Myth: “No one had ever entered the White House so grossly ill informed” by William Leuchtenberg

“You could walk through Ronald Reagan’s deepest thoughts,” a California legislator said, “and not get your ankles wet.”

Speaking of one far-ranging discussion on the MX missile, the Indiana congressman Lee Hamilton, an authority on national defense, reported, “Reagan’s only contribution throughout the entire hour and a half was to interrupt somewhere at midpoint to tell us he’d watched a movie the night before, and he gave us the plot from War Games.” The president “cut ribbons and made speeches. He did these things beautifully,” 

“Every moment of every public appearance was scheduled, every word scripted, every place where Reagan was expected to stand was chalked with toe marks.” Those manipulations, he added, seemed customary to Reagan, for “he had been learning his lines, composing his facial expressions, hitting his toe marks for half a century.” Each night, before turning in, he took comfort in a shooting schedule for the next day’s television- focused events that was laid out for him at his bedside, just as it had been in Hollywood."