I love to listen to Glenn Beck on the radio and watch video clips of him on Fox News; however, I was disappointed in The Overton Window. As the previous reviewer noted, it was more of the same that we hear from Glenn. To me, it was as if clips were taken from things Glenn has said in the past and made into a novel. The story line took a long time to get interesting…maybe the 6th or 7th CD out of 8 or 9 CDs (I can’t remember which). It did end interestingly and looks for a sequel.
Another thing I was disappointed in was the amount of cursing…there were quite a few damns and hells. I don’t want ANY cursing in my material. It’s not necessary.
PERSONAL NOTE: It is crystal clear to anyone, Left, Right, or Center, who has been paying attention, that the United States has been plunging on a self-destructive course for at least several decades. Who or what is the cause remains the question. The Left has their nutcase conspiracy theories, mostly blaming the Right–which are pretty convincing. The Right has their nutcase conspiracy theories, mostly blaming the Left–which are pretty convincing. Could it be that we all have a common enemy? Could it be that the erosion of freedom, and the growth of corporate government is the problem?
Glenn Beck presents a preposterous “conspiracy theory”, which is not intended to be taken literally. His purpose is to stimulate thought, to shift the window. The problem is that he doesn’t know where to center his window as a starting point. Glenn Beck’s genius is in proposing a common solution–whatever the true cause of our problems is.
THE TEASER: The novel starts with a teaser, a loathsome device which is intended to catch bookstore readers with up-front action. Although short, the teaser is irrelevant to the story, and other than “setting the mood”, only serves to potentially confuse the reader.
THE SETUP: Noah Gardener is the vice president of the most influential public relations company in the country, ran by his father Arthur, who is the eminence grise behind a conspiracy behind a “new world order”, to turn the U.S. into a “benevolent dictatorship”. Noah observes a new minor employee, Molly, tacking up a notice for a “restoration of the U.S.” rally. Molly’s mother, Beverly Emerson, of course, is the leader of the patriotic “Founders Keepers”. Noah is immediate smitten with Molly, and decides to attend the rally–where they are both arrested, and somehow as a result fall in love.
CRITIQUE: There are numerous technical flaws and artistic shortcomings in “The Overton Window”—but no worse than some of the lesser novels of the most popular current novelists. Besides, no-one will judge “The Overton Window” by those standards—so I won’t dwell those flaws. “Atlas Shrugged”–to which “The Overton Window” is often compared—has similar flaws, but has remained the second largest seller, worldwide, in all history, second only to the Bible for over 50 years. Unfortunately, “The Overton Window” will be forgotten while “Atlas Shrugged” is still selling strong, because Rand’s events are generic, reoccuring in various forms almost daily, while Beck’s are specific real events which will get stale quickly. Although Beck fans (like myself) will love “The Overton Window”, the fact is, Beck fails to make his case in a convincing way (other than to those of us already in the choir). Beck only succeeds in convincingly demonstrating that “something is terribly wrong”. Beck cites a few examples of inexplicable events and frightening trends, but his fails to convincingly explain “how and why” these are happening. A few “real” events can be dismissed as freak occurances. Rand’s genius was in abstracting the essense of the real events she observed.
Rand brilliantly and thoroughtly portrays the nature of institutional incompetence, willful ignorance, and greed. Not only does Ayn Rand clearly identify and portray the nature of evil, as she understoond it, she spends over a thousand pages with dozens of examples and variations on her theme to get her point across. Beck fails to perceive that a the most important feature of the actual application of “the overton window” is repetition, and more repetition, and more repetition. Most people complain about “Atlas Shrugged” 1000+ pages, but Rand needed every page. Rand doesn’t provide a shifting view through a single window—she provides dozens of veiws from every concievable angle.
Note on the audiobook version: Many fans could hope that Glenn Beck would narrate the novel himself. Fortunately, the narrator sounds like Beck, and does a superb job. Unfortunately, if you only have the audio-version, you’ll miss the end-notes at the back of the printed version which identify which events have really happened.
THE VERDICT: As a first novel, the “Overton Window” is very good. As a political novel, like “1984″, “The Overton Window” falls short of its goals.
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We ordered this for a friend who has macular degeneration. Wonderful way to meet his needs.
I love to listen to Glenn Beck on the radio and watch video clips of him on Fox News; however, I was disappointed in The Overton Window. As the previous reviewer noted, it was more of the same that we hear from Glenn. To me, it was as if clips were taken from things Glenn has said in the past and made into a novel. The story line took a long time to get interesting…maybe the 6th or 7th CD out of 8 or 9 CDs (I can’t remember which). It did end interestingly and looks for a sequel.
Another thing I was disappointed in was the amount of cursing…there were quite a few damns and hells. I don’t want ANY cursing in my material. It’s not necessary.
If a sequel comes out, I won’t buy it…
PERSONAL NOTE: It is crystal clear to anyone, Left, Right, or Center, who has been paying attention, that the United States has been plunging on a self-destructive course for at least several decades. Who or what is the cause remains the question. The Left has their nutcase conspiracy theories, mostly blaming the Right–which are pretty convincing. The Right has their nutcase conspiracy theories, mostly blaming the Left–which are pretty convincing. Could it be that we all have a common enemy? Could it be that the erosion of freedom, and the growth of corporate government is the problem?
Glenn Beck presents a preposterous “conspiracy theory”, which is not intended to be taken literally. His purpose is to stimulate thought, to shift the window. The problem is that he doesn’t know where to center his window as a starting point. Glenn Beck’s genius is in proposing a common solution–whatever the true cause of our problems is.
THE TEASER: The novel starts with a teaser, a loathsome device which is intended to catch bookstore readers with up-front action. Although short, the teaser is irrelevant to the story, and other than “setting the mood”, only serves to potentially confuse the reader.
THE SETUP: Noah Gardener is the vice president of the most influential public relations company in the country, ran by his father Arthur, who is the eminence grise behind a conspiracy behind a “new world order”, to turn the U.S. into a “benevolent dictatorship”. Noah observes a new minor employee, Molly, tacking up a notice for a “restoration of the U.S.” rally. Molly’s mother, Beverly Emerson, of course, is the leader of the patriotic “Founders Keepers”. Noah is immediate smitten with Molly, and decides to attend the rally–where they are both arrested, and somehow as a result fall in love.
CRITIQUE: There are numerous technical flaws and artistic shortcomings in “The Overton Window”—but no worse than some of the lesser novels of the most popular current novelists. Besides, no-one will judge “The Overton Window” by those standards—so I won’t dwell those flaws. “Atlas Shrugged”–to which “The Overton Window” is often compared—has similar flaws, but has remained the second largest seller, worldwide, in all history, second only to the Bible for over 50 years. Unfortunately, “The Overton Window” will be forgotten while “Atlas Shrugged” is still selling strong, because Rand’s events are generic, reoccuring in various forms almost daily, while Beck’s are specific real events which will get stale quickly. Although Beck fans (like myself) will love “The Overton Window”, the fact is, Beck fails to make his case in a convincing way (other than to those of us already in the choir). Beck only succeeds in convincingly demonstrating that “something is terribly wrong”. Beck cites a few examples of inexplicable events and frightening trends, but his fails to convincingly explain “how and why” these are happening. A few “real” events can be dismissed as freak occurances. Rand’s genius was in abstracting the essense of the real events she observed.
Rand brilliantly and thoroughtly portrays the nature of institutional incompetence, willful ignorance, and greed. Not only does Ayn Rand clearly identify and portray the nature of evil, as she understoond it, she spends over a thousand pages with dozens of examples and variations on her theme to get her point across. Beck fails to perceive that a the most important feature of the actual application of “the overton window” is repetition, and more repetition, and more repetition. Most people complain about “Atlas Shrugged” 1000+ pages, but Rand needed every page. Rand doesn’t provide a shifting view through a single window—she provides dozens of veiws from every concievable angle.
Note on the audiobook version: Many fans could hope that Glenn Beck would narrate the novel himself. Fortunately, the narrator sounds like Beck, and does a superb job. Unfortunately, if you only have the audio-version, you’ll miss the end-notes at the back of the printed version which identify which events have really happened.
THE VERDICT: As a first novel, the “Overton Window” is very good. As a political novel, like “1984″, “The Overton Window” falls short of its goals.