The acclaimed author of the intensely powerful novel Pretty Birds,Scott Simon now gives us a story that is both laugh-out-loud funny and heart-piercing–as sprawling and brawling as Chicago, where politics is a contact sport.
The mayor of Chicago is found in his office late at night, sitting in his boxer shorts, facedown dead in a pizza. The mayor was a hero and a rascal: dynamic, charming, ingenious, corruptible, and a masterly manipulator. The city mourns. But it’s discovered that the mayor was murdered–shortly after he may have begun to squeal on some of his colleagues at City Hall. Over the next four days, police race to find the mayor’s killer, while the politicians who bemoan his passing scramble for his throne.
At the center is Sundaran “Sunny” Roopini, forty-eight, alderman of the Forty-eighth Ward, and vice-mayor. Sunny is an Indian immigrant, a restaurant owner, and a recent widower. He is getting tired of politics and wants to hold on just long enough to do the best for his two restive teenage daughters. But as acting interim mayor for a few days, Sunny must deal with forty-nineotheraldermen who have their own clashing ambitions. How will Sunny do what’s best for both his family and city in a time of crisis?
As The Last Hurrah embodied urban politics for a previous generation, Windy City captures politics in the multiethnic tumult of today’s big city, where a stalled subway raises fears of a terrorist attack and smoke-filled rooms areabolished by no-smoking statutes. The story takes a raft of colorful characters–pinky-ringed pols, pious reformers, money-grubbers, and wheeler-dealers of every creed, color, and proclivity–through City Hall corridors, neighborhood restaurants and clubs, weddings, sex scandals, gospel churches, police stations, and sting operations to deliver an ending that is unexpectedly noble. Windy City is a roller coaster of a novel that dips and soars through the amusement park of politics. With echoes of Primary Colors and Thank You for Smoking, Windy City will win votes as the best political novel in many years. Its personal story–about a flawed, decent man thrust suddenly under hot lights–will also win hearts.
Praise for Windy City: “Delectable… Offers an insider’s view of the kind of urban political fray–albeit fictional–that Barack Obama emerged from as an Illinois state legislator representing Chicago’s South Side…. Windy City’s articulate and witty protagonist … must juggle dirty secrets and deal making…”–USA Today “Comic but sneakily affecting… The rich multiculturalism of the American city is not a new phenomenon… rarely, however, has it been depicted with such unabashed affection... The zeal with which he celebrates the city, warts and all, is hard to resist.. Simon’s choice of hero…is an immensely appealing figure.”–Washington Post Book World “Pitch-perfect… Scott Simon, NPR host, knows his way around politics… His dialogue throws off sparks and shrieks like a Chicago El-car…Recommended to all political junkies.”–The Roanoke Times (Virginia)
“A hilarious satirical novel about politics.”–Clarence Page, The Chicago Tribune
“Entertaining and well-observed… renders the inner workings of City Hall with wit and aplomb….Some of Simon’s Chicagoans may be con artists, crooks, amoral opportunists or blowhards, sometimes all of the above, but the author still treats them with great affection and respect, creating an impressively large and diverse cast of characters”–Adam Langer, The Chicago Tribune
“[A] great novel… filled with emotional turmoil, gritty political decisions, murders, homicide attempts,a suicide and even a touch of romance…[a] human and fully realized portrait of the people caught up in contemporary public life.”–Time Out Chicago “[A] big-hearted bear-hug of a novel… embracing roots and family, eccentricities and failings, and dappled with the sights, sounds and grit of the Windy City–makes this an energizing and loving contemporary urban fable.”–GO Magazine, AirTran Airways
“A rather sentimental, positive picture of the democratic process.” —Pittsburgh Post-Gazette “Windy City is funny and tender… full of boisterous love for the sport of politics and Chicago. The best political novel in years.”–Christopher Buckley, author of Boomsday and Thank You for Smoking
Listmania Sunny Roopini is a wonderful character and the strength of this warm-hearted novel rests on the author's success in allowing us to relate to and root for a decent, well-intentioned regular guy thrown into a near-impossible situation. Sunny struggles to navigate the stress of being thrust into a two-day assignment as mayor of one of the world's biggest cities, playing the role of accidental kingmaker, ultimate manager of a murder mystery, and most importantly, coping with his relationship with two teenage daughters who have recently lost their mother and his own repressed grief.
Scott Simon is masterful in his portrayal of Sunny. Where the novel almost lost me was in the scrupulously researched and beautifully written listings of things that make up this Windy City, primarily food. 'Where is Simon's editor?' I thought to myself as the narrative flow was stopped yet again for another listing of stuff. In small doses it's great; to the extent that it is allowed to dominate the first half of this novel, it appeared to me a case of an author to in love with his own creation (and research) and the absence of an editor willing to call a halt.
This said, the story picks up force in the latter stages. The major flaw there is the murder mystery, which is a weak contrivance. Fortunately that doesn't matter much. The power in this story is in Sunny's story, and that makes this a book well worth reading. It ends on a high and satisfying note.
