"America America"

Ethan Canin's novel "America America" (Random House, 2008) features the time-honored device of a young outsider observing and reporting on life among the rich and powerful. Corey Sifter comes from a working class family, but works for and is taken under the wing of the wealthy Metarey family. That family provides support for New York Senator Henry Bonwiller's 1972 run for the Democratic nomination for President of the United States. As Corey is drawn into the Metarey family and its dynamics and secrets, he is also witness to both the good and bad aspects of the candidate and the campaign. Senator Bonwiller is a great progressive, a champion of the working class and minorities, and a voice against the Vietnam War. But he has his weaknesses as well, and is brought down by a sex scandal clearly reminiscent of that of Senator Edward Kennedy and of the tragic accident at Chappaquiddick in which Mary Jo Kopechne lost her life. The book is occasionally a bit portentous in style; the novel moves back and forth through time, and there is a little too much both of the young Corey's mysterious comments about the future, and of the current narration by the much older Corey, saying things like "if only I had known then..." or "later I would realize..." But overall the writing is good, and the story draws the reader in. The novel is an interesting and sobering reminder of the events of the 1960s and 1970s, especially for readers who remember that time period. There are several well-drawn and intriguing characters. Most of all, the novel is an extended meditation on who has power in a society, and on how it is acquired, kept, and then sometimes lost.