<![CDATA[Windy City: A Novel of Politics]]>

false <![CDATA[Windy City: A Novel of Politics]]>

2041754

The acclaimed author of the intensely powerful novel Pretty Birds, Scott Simon now gives us a story that is both laugh-out-loud funny and heart-piercing–as sprawling and brawling as Chicago, where politics is a contact sport. The mayor of Chicago is found in his office late at night, sitting in his boxer shorts, facedown dead in a pizza. The mayor was a hero and a rascal: dynamic, charming, ingenious, corruptible, and a masterly manipulator. The city mourns. But it’s discovered that the mayor was murdered–shortly after he may have begun to squeal on some of his colleagues at City Hall. Over the next four days, police race to find the mayor’s killer, while the politicians who bemoan his passing scramble for his throne. At the center is Sundaran “Sunny” Roopini, forty-eight, alderman of the Forty-eighth Ward, and vice-mayor. Sunny is an Indian immigrant, a restaurant owner, and a recent widower. He is getting tired of politics and wants to hold on just long enough to do the best for his two restive teenage daughters. But as acting interim mayor for a few days, Sunny must deal with forty-nine other aldermen who have their own clashing ambitions. How will Sunny do what’s best for both his family and city in a time of crisis? As The Last Hurrah embodied urban politics for a previous generation, Windy City captures politics in the multiethnic tumult of today’s big city, where a stalled subway raises fears of a terrorist attack and smoke-filled rooms are abolished by no-smoking statutes. The story takes a raft of colorful characters–pinky-ringed pols, pious reformers, money-grubbers, and wheeler-dealers of every creed, color, and proclivity–through City Hall corridors, neighborhood restaurants and clubs, weddings, sex scandals, gospel churches, police stations, and sting operations to deliver an ending that is unexpectedly noble. Windy City is a roller coaster of a novel that dips and soars through the amusement park of politics. With echoes of Primary Colors and Thank You for Smoking, Windy City will win votes as the best political novel in many years. Its personal story–about a flawed, decent man thrust suddenly under hot lights–will also win hearts.

2046648

2008

Windy City: A Novel of Politics

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Might have be aptly renamed, Long Winded City. Simon should get credit for knowing a lot about Chicago and being true to its details and its politics, but definitely gets downgraded for a lack of self-editing. For those who know Chicago, there are 50...more...]]> 3 0 false true Sat Apr 11 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Sat Mar 28 16:00:47 -0700 2009 Sun Apr 12 11:00:36 -0700 2009 1 more...]]> 2 0 false false Tue Aug 12 11:57:26 -0700 2008 Tue Aug 12 12:41:47 -0700 2008 * The writer seems inordinately fond of lists: restaurants, cuisines, cultures, ...more...]]> 3 0 true false Mon Aug 04 07:08:29 -0700 2008 Mon Aug 04 07:30:12 -0700 2008
Alderman Sundaram “Sunny” Roopini is rousted out of bed in the middle of the night to go to City Hall. When he gets there, he discovers his friend and colleague, the mayor of Chicago, died in his shorts over a midni...more...]]> 4 0 true false Sat Jun 28 00:00:00 -0700 2008 Wed Mar 19 06:29:51 -0700 2008 Sat Jun 28 07:51:04 -0700 2008 more...]]> 5 0 false false Wed Sep 10 06:23:47 -0700 2008 Sun Sep 07 15:28:58 -0700 2008 Wed Sep 10 06:23:47 -0700 2008
In that same vein, I want Windy City to be my kindler, gentler election process. I realize how incredibly unfeasible it is, but I've got high hopes, ya'll, for dive...more...]]> 2 0 false false Sat Jan 24 00:00:00 -0800 2009 Sun Dec 28 12:10:01 -0800 2008 Sat Jan 24 16:40:36 -0800 2009 more...]]> 5 0 false false Thu Feb 12 00:00:00 -0800 2009 Sat Feb 14 08:14:14 -0800 2009 Sat Feb 14 08:34:56 -0800 2009 1 0 false false Thu May 01 00:00:00 -0700 2008 Mon May 19 11:59:00 -0700 2008 Thu Jun 26 13:31:06 -0700 2008 more...]]> 4 0 false false Mon Jun 01 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Sat Jun 27 16:33:24 -0700 2009 Sat Jun 27 16:35:23 -0700 2009 4 0 false false Mon Mar 30 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Tue Mar 31 06:35:28 -0700 2009 Tue Mar 31 06:37:37 -0700 2009 3 0 false false Wed Jan 14 00:00:00 -0800 2009 Sat Jan 10 10:43:10 -0800 2009 Fri Jan 16 16:38:12 -0800 2009 5 0 false false Mon Jul 06 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Wed Jul 01 18:33:02 -0700 2009 Mon Jul 06 20:34:53 -0700 2009 0 0 false false Fri Mar 06 09:52:32 -0800 2009 Fri Mar 06 09:54:11 -0800 2009 4 0 false false Sun Jun 01 00:00:00 -0700 2008 Mon Jun 23 13:15:03 -0700 2008 Mon Jun 23 13:15:03 -0700 2008 more...]]> 3 0 false false Sun Aug 02 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Sun Aug 02 17:16:27 -0700 2009 Sun Aug 02 17:19:12 -0700 2009 4 0 false false Thu Jan 01 00:00:00 -0800 2009 Wed Jan 21 16:13:34 -0800 2009 Wed Jan 21 16:16:13 -0800 2009 2 0 false false Tue Jun 09 18:47:49 -0700 2009 Tue Jun 09 18:49:05 -0700 2009 5 0 false false Tue Oct 27 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Wed Oct 28 05:45:13 -0700 2009 Fri Oct 30 07:04:24 -0700 2009 4 0 false false Sun Mar 16 04:00:46 -0700 2008 Sat May 03 07:11:15 -0700 2008 more...]]> http://www.goodreads.com/book_link/follow/8?book_id=2041754