So I won’t say who this book is about. I mean technically it’s not about anyone, because fiction (a framework, I actually respect), but anyway. If you read this one, you KNOW who it’s about.
This book is told in two distinct threads. In one, we follow a third person narration of the finding of an aardvark in the wild, which is captured, killed and mounted, and shipped back to England to a naturalist. It’s the mid-1800s. So these things are less frowned upon.
In the present time, YOU (second person) are a young congressman who has slept with plenty of men, but are NOT gay, according to both you and everyone on your team. You’re a Republican after all. A lover, who also has turned up dead, sends you the aardvark, and when you’re pulled over in Rock Creek Park and the cop tells you there’s new law about trafficking (even taxidermized) exotic animals is in effect, which leads to a minor scandal. We’re told early on, you will reflect upon this during your impeachment trial weeks from now.
So this novel is mostly just a fun, and winking and knowing, look into DC politics of an era (I’d say 2008-2016 or thereabouts) and a kind of eternalized romanticized DC. It’s not all that serious, but it’s a trip at many times. I am also a sucker for DC stories as a former resident.
(Photo: https://www.goodreads.com/book/photo/51198183-enter-the-aardvark)
