Mr. Texas: A Novel, by Lawrence Wright, was a mixture of satire, social commentary, and a good story, with some well-developed characters and many adjuvant characters. It bordered on being an exposé about Texas politics but was published as fiction. Cindy kept our discussion on track, and we went through all the questions and had a dynamic discussion about the story, the characters, and the implications about Texas politics!
Some of the
questions we discussed:
Did any of the fictional
characters remind you of real-life politicians, and/or which real-life
politicians surprised you in the book?
Lydia gave
us a complete answer on this one! She explained, “When the Attorney General, a
pious crook, was caught fixing up a girlfriend with a well-paying job with a
real estate developer (several cries of 'Paxton' were heard at this point in
our discussion), L.G., in exchange for settling a damaging lawsuit, not only
managed to squash the whistleblower at the plate, but he got the Attorney General’s
wife elected to the U.S. Senate!"
What was
the funniest part of the book for you?
I thought the beginning was the funniest. It made me laugh out loud, when L.G. was asking Sonny to run, Sonny was still innocent and somewhat clueless, and the reader was just catching on, along with Sonny. Everyone found the Pats who ran the talk show funny. Patricia was amused by Sonny’s responsibility to meet his wife’s ovulation schedule, when they were trying to conceive during the time when Sonny was having meetings. He ran up against that responsibility monthly, each time getting sillier and more outrageous!
Did
you find anything in the book to be a foretelling of what is happening now?
We noted
that the problems in the book were the current Texas Legislature problems. Gun
control, climate change, and school vouchers were mentioned. We didn’t even
need to discuss immigration. Marcia and Carla noted that the separation of
church and state has become less distinct lately, with Texas working on
legislating that Christianity be taught in schools. Lisa said that when she moved
to Texas, George Bush’s political visions were fearsome to her and her fellow educators.
Also concerning schools in Texas, Michel could hardly believe that Texas public
school curriculum doesn’t include sex education.
Abortion
issues are blatant in Texas, and this issue has moved beyond the understanding
of most legislators, as they want to outlaw in-vitro fertilization (IVF) along with abortions. Carla
mentioned that if all IVF embryos have the legal right to be kept alive, this
would incur costs, such as paying rent in temperature-controlled space (forever?)
for those who use IVF to build their
families. Marcia told us about a theory that places most of the blame for the
popularity of abortions on men, considering men basically responsible for
unwanted pregnancies.
What
was your takeaway message from this book and your role in it?
Carla summed it up with "What you're looking for is looking
for you." Cindy suggested that more citizens should vote in the primaries,
because that's where the candidates stem from.
Patricia said, "The Lord's battle is fought in the Texas
legislature." She became more sympathetic to local politics after reading Mr.
Texas. There was some discussion as to the influence of good looks among
the candidates on election outcomes. We mentioned various times that each
person should vote responsibly, which includes both learning about the
candidates and voting.
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