- Paperback
- Publisher: Avon Books (P); Reprint edition (Feb 1991)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 0380713691
- ISBN-13: 978-0380713691
- Product Dimensions: 20.1 x 13.2 x 1.5 cm
- Average Customer Review: 3.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (1 customer review)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 4,466,750 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
0 of 1 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
This is an odd book- probably not the best Erickson book to start with (see Rubicon Beach or The Sea Came In at Midnight), Leap Year was published alongside Tours of the Black Clock (which is a better book). Leap Year is classified as 'Non-fiction/politics', but reallt its fiction, non-fiction, politics, history & pop culture combined. A travelogue that read like a more surreal take on New Journalism. it looks at 1988, backwards&forwards at America in a manner that reads somewhere between Denis Johnson's Seek & more sideways DeLillo (I was thinking a little of the end part of Americana, for some reason). It's also not far from the more autobiographical works of Rick Moody, notably The Black Veil- as Erickson is a character/the perspective, whose own life occurs here (references to Miles Davis, Blonde on Blonde & Springsteen occur and recur). This book generally takes in the 1988 Election (which saw Bush Sr rise to power), but it notes much of what went before: JFK- Johnson-Nixon- Ford- Carter & Reagan. It captures the zeitgeist very well. There are great memoir bits (eg getting drafted for Nam, places Erickson has lived) that fuse with recurrent italicized sections that focus on Sally Hemmings the slave lover of Jefferson in 1789 (don't see Jefferson in Paris...). The abortion issue is dealt with in an interesting manner, as is another controversy of 1988- The Last Temptation of Christ. Reading this book, you certainly get more of the zeitgeist than you do with the somewhat flawed 80s referring film Donnie Darko (2002)- viewers of that might find a lot of this interesting. Leap Year is an odd, yet interesting read- it's not sure what it is- Erickson's an underrated writer and this is another of his interesting works. The key word then, appears to be interesting...worth a read-
Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta)
Amazon.com:
3 reviews
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
Politicians = clueless. 1988-2008
27 Jan 2008
Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase
Erickson lambastes the Right and the Left in this journey through the election of 1988 (copyright 1989). Much of it could have been written about any election since by merely changing the names. Even though the specifics are dated, it is still a fun, funny and intelligent read in 2008. Highly recommended.
Erickson turns politians into interesting people
23 July 1997
Format:Paperback
Leap Year takes the elections of 1988, one of the least interesting political years in my memory, and breaks it down step by step, candidate by candidate, and shows us exactly what was going on in his or her head at each step of the way. Erickson approaches the elections with the mind of a brilliant novelist, combining great personal stories of the conventions and meeting candidates in obscure locations with analytical genius, making almost everything about politics, even issues not discussed in the book, easily accessible to anyone. I did feel that the sections dealing with Sally Hemmings seemed a little irrelevant and confusing, especially when the same character is approached so well in Arc d'X. But otherwise, the surreal tone so familiar to Erickson's novels worked amazingly well. Read this book with a highlighter so you don't miss a thing
A great book
16 Feb 1997
Format:Paperback
On the surface this is one view of the 1988 presidential race.In reality,it is an epic(but concise) capsule of our country:past,present,and future.Check it out
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