Official Review: Watergate Amendment by John Fitzgerald

[Bfrisco]

[Following is the official OnlineBookClub.org review of "Watergate Amendment" by John Fitzgerald.]

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Watergate Amendment by John Fitzgerald is an alternate history full of politics and intrigue. The story begins with a priest visiting a mental hospital who receives a package from one of the inmates, a man named Jude, containing Jude’s story. That story makes up the rest of the book. The main plot starts with Jude offering Nelson Rockefeller a guaranteed opportunity to become President – a political ambition he had been unable to achieve on his own – in exchange for a large amount of money and no small amount of political influence. Through a series of complex events and manipulation on a grand scale, the reader follows the plan Jude has set in motion, rather like a game of chess.

Perhaps one of the most impressive parts of this book is the sheer amount of detail that is included. Nearly every building has meticulous architectural descriptions, and the enormous number of actual people and historical events involved must have come from a great deal of research on the author’s part. Even cultural references in the story’s narrative are from the appropriate time period. I think the author put an amazing amount of effort into making sure the reader could really imagine being in the story. The plot was easy to follow; despite how difficult it was to see how everything fit as events unfolded, it was impressive to see how everything pieced together in the end.

Unfortunately, one of the book’s highlights is also a fault. At times, there was simply too much detail. I would read about a building and find myself wondering why the author felt the need to include the square footage in the narrative. Also, I found myself recalling the phrase “show, don’t tell” several times each chapter. Often, the author would describe a character’s emotions by flat out saying he was upset, rather than using body language or describing his tone to imply it. Characters’ thoughts, motivations, and feelings were spoon fed to the reader in a way that bordered on irritating. In quite a strong contrast to this tendency throughout the book, the ending seemed incredibly abrupt. I still don’t quite understand how the ending leads to the introduction, and I wish there had been some kind of connecting epilogue.

Also, this may have simply been personal preference, since I’m not a history or politics buff, but I did find that I had to take a break from reading at times because the material was quite dense. This may not be a fault for every reader, and in fact may not even apply to every potential reader, because I did find the pacing excellent at points, and I certainly found myself intrigued and curious throughout various sections of the book.

I would rate this book a strong 3 out of 4 stars. It is incredibly well-researched and intriguing to even a casual reader with little to no interest in politics or history. However, it borders on giving too much detail and the narrative is frequently heavy-handed and lacking in subtlety. I would definitely recommend this book to anyone with even a slight interest in alternate history or someone who enjoys a plot with a great deal of twists and turns.

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[npandit]

This is a great review; I really feel like I have a feel for what the book will be like.

[Bfrisco]

Thanks so much! I'm glad you found it helpful!