If you were to become a DC heavyweight whose life merited a novelist’s attention, you’d be lucky to have Thomas Mallon pick you for a muse. Unlike Gore Vidal, whose Washington historical novels have a crotchety polemical undertone, Mallon is an equitable storyteller who likes the Beltway, understands the city’s currency, and generally refuses to disparage the denizens in charge. In other words, those expecting to see Richard Nixon burned in effigy in Mallon’s novel Watergate will be disappointed, as will those hoping for a stringent recreation of the eponymous burglary. What Mallon offers is a series of diverting, occasionally out-there character sketches that chart the debacle’s toll on the bit players, among them Fred LaRue—a hard-drinking aide to President Nixon who’s haunted by the memory of a hunting accident that took his father’s life—and Rose Mary Woods, Nixon’s secretary who may have been responsible for the infamous elisions in the White House tapes.
Watergate seems to beg for a big climax that never comes, yet there’s so much to like. The dialogue is smart, the description ebullient, and the variegated narrative gives luster to a real-life American tragicomedy.
This article appears in the February 2012 issue of The Washingtonian.
Book Review: Watergate
Thomas Mallon offers a series of diverting, occasionally out-there character sketches that chart the debacle’s toll on the bit players.
If you were to become a DC heavyweight whose life merited a novelist’s attention, you’d be lucky to have Thomas Mallon pick you for a muse. Unlike Gore Vidal, whose Washington historical novels have a crotchety polemical undertone, Mallon is an equitable storyteller who likes the Beltway, understands the city’s currency, and generally refuses to disparage the denizens in charge. In other words, those expecting to see Richard Nixon burned in effigy in Mallon’s novel Watergate will be disappointed, as will those hoping for a stringent recreation of the eponymous burglary. What Mallon offers is a series of diverting, occasionally out-there character sketches that chart the debacle’s toll on the bit players, among them Fred LaRue—a hard-drinking aide to President Nixon who’s haunted by the memory of a hunting accident that took his father’s life—and Rose Mary Woods, Nixon’s secretary who may have been responsible for the infamous elisions in the White House tapes.
Watergate seems to beg for a big climax that never comes, yet there’s so much to like. The dialogue is smart, the description ebullient, and the variegated narrative gives luster to a real-life American tragicomedy.
This article appears in the February 2012 issue of The Washingtonian.
Most Popular in News & Politics
What It Felt Like for a Virginia Marching Band to Win Metallica’s Contest
What’s IN and OUT in DC Restaurant Trends for 2024
Introducing 8 of DC’s Most Stylish
Best of Washington 2023: Things to Eat, Drink, Do, and Know Right Now
Washingtonian Magazine
May 2024: Great Getaways
View IssueSubscribe
Follow Us on Social
Follow Us on Social
Related
13 Major Concerts and Music Festivals in the DC Area This Spring
Mary Timony on Her Emotional New Album, “Untame the Tiger”
The Beatles in DC: A New Exhibit in Maryland Looks Back on Early Beatlemania
Northern Virginia High School Wins Metallica’s Marching Band Competition
More from News & Politics
These Volunteers Wake Up at Dawn to Collect DC’s Dead—and Injured—Birds
Guest List: 5 People We’d Love to Hang Out With This May
Democrats and Republicans Pass Balls, Not Bills, at Congressional Soccer Game
3 New Memoirs by Prominent Women
Everything You Wanted to Know About Urban Bear Sightings but Were Afraid to Ask, Because Who Wants to Get That Close to a Bear?
Rockville Police Are Searching for Culprits of a $4,500 Pickleball Paddle Heist
Dozens of Vintage Planes Will Fly Over the National Mall This Saturday
PHOTOS: “Rupaul’s Drag Race” Queens Work It at the National Mall