Balsamic Dreams: A Short but Self-Important History of the Baby Boomer Generation, by Joe Queenan. Henry Holt and Company, 2002

 

This book sounded like a funny read; I’m used to seeing Boomers (yes, I was born in 1954, so that’s me, too) slagged on the internet but usually not in a humorous way, so I thought this would make a nice change.

I was disappointed. Yes, some of it is funny- very much so. But he repeats himself from chapter to chapter. And, while he’s funny, he’s mean spirited. He may be a Boomer himself, but it’s obvious he despises a lot of his fellow cohort. He seems to think that being ‘cool’ is all that most of us think about, but we are hardly the only generation to do so. Witness man buns, midnight bike rides, young folks who are every bit as organic and holistic as the original hippies, the reverence for Mid-Century Modern, and a renewal of thrifting for style, not just for economics. The trends for growing one’s own fruit and vegetables (something almost mandatory for the Greatest Generation), as has macrame, crafting your own possessions, and vegetarianism. And the majority of the truly toxic (as opposed to just stereotypical) Boomers are in the upper-middle class; those of us in the lower economic levels didn’t go into arbitrage, turn into stock manipulators, or develop companies that destroyed the environment. We didn’t go from driving a VW to driving a giant SUV, we just changed to driving an old Subaru when the VW parts dried up. Yes, there are those of us at all economic (and toxicity levels) who liked Tapestry and CSN&Y. But despite his sneering at ‘cool’, he himself seems to have never done anything just for fun- heaven forbid he should listen to music that isn’t cool, or wear a T-shirt just because he still likes Emerson, Lake, & Palmer. He’s like the bully in high school who never actually hit anyone, but just threw barbed witticisms at his victims.

Even though he’s a Boomer, he wants all of us Boomers to get off of his lawn. Two stars.

The Short Reign of Pippin IV, by John Steinbeck. Viking, 1957

In this short piece of political satire, the French government decides to bring the monarchy back. They settle on Pippin Heristal, an amateur astronomer who lives on the income from some vineyards. As a constitutional monarch, there isn’t really much useful he can do, and he finds himself obliged to live uncomfortably in a palace, and put up with an infinite number of hangers-on, all who have inherited positions that suddenly are providing them with money. He just wishes to go back to his old life. His practical wife, Marie, figures that running a country should be like running a household, and her best friend, a nun who was formerly a show girl, gives sage advice. As does an old man who lives by a lake, who Pippin meets on one of his escapes from the palace, which he manages disguised as a common man, riding a motor scooter. It goes to his feminist, politically active daughter’s head and she instantly turns into a Disney princess.

While written in 1957, a good lot of the satire is still relatable today. People and politics really haven’t changed much. The book pokes fun at America just as much as at France, and it’s a quick, sort of fun read if you’re a Steinbeck fan- although it’s very different from any of his other books. Four stars.   

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