Wanted to like the book because I found the idea of a more historically correct but politically incorrect version of the American revolution refreshing. The author has a valid point: I absolutely concur that we have unrealistically mythologized our founding fathers and the events surrounding the founding of our nation.

Alas, this novel is neither historically accurate, informative, nor remotely entertaining. The main characters, John & Deborah, are unbelievable and unsympathetic. The plot is a disaster, so full of flashbacks, unnecessary complexity, and backfill (author to reader: "Oh, wait, I forget to mention ...") that it's almost incoherent at times. And themes/metaphors are inconsistent or laughably overused. (Honestly, if the author mentioned that danged turtle one more time ... possibly one of the most strained metaphors I've come across in my many, many years of reading!)

Worst of all, the author engages in so much hyperbole that any illusion of credibility (essential to good historical fiction) is rapidly dispelled. It simply isn't credible (much less entertaining) that ALL the founding fathers were uniformly venal, vain, and stupid; that ALL of the events of the revolution are wildly misunderstood; and that his heroine/whore ends up assuming a pivotal role in basically ALL of the major events of the revolution. This author appears so determined to prove that everything we know about the revolution is wrong, he's exaggerated his own thesis to the point of absurdity.

I get the author's premise: that the revolutionary war wasn't so much about revolting against England as revolting against the current social order. But it's one thing to make a point; another to do so convincingly. I do believe there's a good book to be written about this topic. Unfortunately, appears we'll have to wait until a less partisan historian - and more talented author - comes along. ( )

27 June 2001
Last Refuge of Scoundrels
Paul Lussier

This is a novel about the revolutionary war. It is loosely based on historical characters, and pretends to present the viewpoint of the populace and make fun of the pompous founding fathers. The protagonist is based on a southern rebel who eventually rode out in front of British gunners in South Carolina well after Yorktown, and in this book is an aide de camp to Washington. He is in love with a female spy for the colonies, who is also a colonel in disguise at bunker hill, and the link to the lower classes who, according to this book, really ran the war. Some scenes are hilarious, but others are mystical and the plot twists are unbelievable. ( )