All Idea, No Execution

Nicholson Baker, Checkpoint

Nicholson Baker's latest book is likely to be one of the most-discussed tomes of the season because he has chosen a subject sure to attract attention: killing the president. The short novel (it weighs in at only 115 pages) is a transcript of a hotel-room discussion between two people, Ben and Jay, about the wisdom of assassinating George W. Bush. Jay contends that Bush deserves to die for what he has done in Iraq, among other things; Ben, called by Jay to help him with an undescribed situation, finds himself fending off these arguments with the notion that this violence will only beget more violence.

Baker's book is, it should be said, not terribly good. The writing is smooth and the characters and their relationship to one another are revealed through their dialogue, and Baker has brought together an interesting hodgepodge of facts to create Jay's argument for his plan. But Baker has also taken the easy way out by making Jay clearly deranged. Ben's task in the novel is not to argue that Bush deserves to live but to argue instead that his death would do no good, and while that may provide a fleeting thrill to Bush-bashers everywhere--"You can't even argue against the idea that he deserves it!"--it's actually a disservice to the reader. No one even tries to defend Bush, making the book as unbalanced as its main character, and even I can see that this is a flaw. I may disagree with everything Bush has ever done, but I'd still give him a lawyer if he were on trial for his life. Baker doesn't.