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A review by poisonenvy
Fellow Travelers by Thomas Mallon
challenging
emotional
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
Like probably a lot of people reading this book in 2024, I came here straight from watching the TV show, and then was disappointed to realize that it cut probably my favourite storyline from the TV show (and also some of my favourite characters, but I suspected from the beginning that they were likely show only).
This book was, at times, a challenge to work through. It was very dense, with a whole lot of political minutia from the 1950s Lavender Scare -- it eventually got to the point where I was forced to google historical events and historical people just to make sense of what was happening in this book, since I had no prior knowledge and this book, I think, assumes that people will just automatically know relatively minor political players from the 1950s (I assume relatively minor though, given the fact that Senator Charles Potter's wikipedia page is pretty short despite the fact that he's apparently written a biography).
I'll admit that I did find myself missing a lot of the more character driven aspects of the TV show (I would say I might have liked the book more if I hadn't watched the show first, except that I probably would've never read the book at all if it wasn't for the show), but when this book did dive into the central characters and their relationships, I was very much invested. It's significant that this book starts with a wedding and ends with a funeral.
I do like politics quite a bit, so I think that this book was not as much as a slough for me as it might be for someone who's less interested in, again, the day-to-day minutia-type politics that this book gets into.
Anyway, I enjoyed the ride overall, and I'm pretty glad I picked it up.
This book was, at times, a challenge to work through. It was very dense, with a whole lot of political minutia from the 1950s Lavender Scare -- it eventually got to the point where I was forced to google historical events and historical people just to make sense of what was happening in this book, since I had no prior knowledge and this book, I think, assumes that people will just automatically know relatively minor political players from the 1950s (I assume relatively minor though, given the fact that Senator Charles Potter's wikipedia page is pretty short despite the fact that he's apparently written a biography).
I'll admit that I did find myself missing a lot of the more character driven aspects of the TV show (I would say I might have liked the book more if I hadn't watched the show first, except that I probably would've never read the book at all if it wasn't for the show), but when this book did dive into the central characters and their relationships, I was very much invested. It's significant that this book starts with a wedding and ends with a funeral.
I do like politics quite a bit, so I think that this book was not as much as a slough for me as it might be for someone who's less interested in, again, the day-to-day minutia-type politics that this book gets into.
Anyway, I enjoyed the ride overall, and I'm pretty glad I picked it up.