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The War at Home
McNally's concern isn't primarily about cuts to social programs, the erosion of civil rights or even deceptive wars abroad. It's about the mentally enervating effect of living in what he sees as the constant state of outrage and fear that the Bush administration inspires. By the time Jainey takes the America's Report Card test at school for the last time, she's so agitated that she can barely think straight. The essay question about a contested student election sounds a lot like the 2000 Bush-Gore election, but that doesn't matter to her. She brushes the question aside and writes a plea for help: "I don't know who reads these things and I can't imagine what kind of sad life you must have but let me tell you a little bit about myself." She goes on to claim that someone killed her art teacher and now they're trying to kill her.
Charlie, as you may have guessed, eventually grades that essay. (To be fair, this is the only event that's easy to anticipate in this wacky story.) Deeply depressed by his girlfriend's rejection and broken down by months of toil in the assessment center, he decides to devote his life to protecting Jainey from nefarious government forces.
  (Mike Kemp - Getty Images/rubberball) |
The adventure that follows is wildly energetic, often chaotic and never resists a diversion as it careens toward a conclusion that's oddly terrifying and sweet. What America's Report Card really hopes to assess are the psychotic symptoms that ordinary people have begun to display as a result of our government's surveillance and brutality:
a) disillusionment
b) paranoia
c) rage
d) all of the above.
When you're finished, put your #2 pencil down and enjoy a government-sanctioned moment of silence. ·
Ron Charles is a senior editor of Book World.
