1 out of 4 stars
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There is one quote in this novel that perfectly describes my opinion on the story as a whole – it was “like a Christmas gift in a big box with forty bows that housed a small turd.” <I><s></s>Kennedy’s Revenge has an interesting enough premise – a young man finds out that he’s the illegitimateson of one of the nation’s most beloved presidents in history and proceeds to take America by storm in the nation’s most divided election. Backed by some impressive research on authorRodenbeck’s part, this novel has all the makings of being an exciting piece of historical fiction. But while Rodenbeck succeeds in his thorough research, he fails in making a compelling and memorable characters.
Fitzgerald Cavendish is perfect. Too perfect. His lack of flaws doesn’t make him feel real and made him difficult to relate to. He comes off as a typical white male power fantasy: kind,wealthy, good looking, and loved by all. But just in case the reader isn’t aware of this, Rodenbeck makes sure to remind us by detailing Fitz’s perfect qualities in at least once in almost every odd-numbered chapter. The supporting cast isn’t any better, consisting of one-note characters who have the depth of a puddle. Annie is beautiful, smart, and devoted. Penny is upbeat, energetic, and great at her job. Evan is Fitz’s living plot device whose sole purpose is to act as a convenient connection when the plot calls for it. The way the dialogue is written feels as though a pair of robots were conversing instead of actual people, leading me to theorize that Rodenbeck may not have had a proper conversation with actual human beings in a long time. In
general, the dialogue feels stiff, which becomes even more apparent when it is spoken by characters based on non-fictional people (Caroline Kennedy, Ellen DeGeneres, and especially Stepehn Colbert) instead of the cookie cutter characters that Rodenbeck introduces to us.Characters remain static, with zero signs of development over the course of the story.
There are noticeable typos and grammatical mistakes found in almost every page. A few typo examples include misspelling the word “chic” (Rodenbeck spelled it as “chick”) in p.114, misspelling “idea” (“ideer”) in p.112, and misspelling “and” (“an”) in p.111. Notice how those pages are very close to each other. I was not exaggerating when I said that I found a typo in almost every page. Grammatical mistakes include misuse of commas, such as in p.111(“….Fitz saw some daylight, handed his duffle bag to Polly, who quickly moved over…”) That sentence should have an “and” after “daylight” instead of a comma. Rodenbeck also has a habit of using “then” in the same paragraph too many times, such as the final paragraph of p.135 that continues on to p.136. It makes the entire portion of the text feel repetitive and makes reading
through it seem like a chore. Additionally, from the very first chapter, Rodenbeck can’t seem to decide whether to address the protagonist by his first or last name. He’s also guilty of switching between Polly’s first and last names a few times as well.
Beyond the bland characters and sub-par writing, there is a good deal of wasted potential. Fitz grew up without a father and it’s mentioned early on that his disinterest in starting a family may stem from his lack of a paternal figure in his life. Upon learning the identity of his father, one would expect him to have some kind of emotional reaction. However, as mentioned earlier, Rodenbeck does not write his protagonist like a real person; so predictably, Fitz reacts in a way only a fictional character would. He gets visibly excited and begins plotting a way to make himself famous in some convoluted effort to solve a puzzle left behind in one of the letters the late Kennedy sent to his mother. Fitz’s plan (which, predictably, goes flawlessly because Fitz is just oh-so- perfect) becomes much harder to believe because, while the author takes the time to repeatedly hammer into the reader’s head that his bland protagonist is a genius, Fitz failed to
realize that the number one is a prime number. How does the author expect to me to believe that this man is a genius when he misses something that simple?
In the introduction, the novel warns the reader that if they aren’t interested in reading about history, they should skip the even-numbered chapters and just read the short, summarized version in chapter 20. It’s quite telling that the author would opt to do this instead of relying on his own skills as a writer to convey his message to the reader. But Rodenbeck was right todoubt his writing skills and give the reader this option. Even-numbered chapters all focus moreon historical information, and they’re all written in a way similar to how high school text books are written. Long, daunting walls of text fill each page with information presented in the most boring, unengaging way possible. While Rodenbeck is guilty of this on occasion even in his odd-numbered chapters, it’s much more of a chore to go through his even-numbered chapters.
Kennedy’s Revenge could have been an interesting look at an alternate universe where Trump loses the presidency. It could have given interesting insight to how a seemingly perfect man can fall apart under the pressures of sudden celebrity. It could have been a lot of positive things, but instead, we are given an uninspiring perfect hero’s journey with absolutely no obstacles to contend with. It is predictable, unimaginative, and dull. It is “like a Christmas gift in a big box with forty bows that housed a small turd.” Taking all this into account, I give this book 1 out of 4 stars. I decided on just 1 because it only had one good thing going for it, and that was the how well researched it was.
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Kennedy's Revenge
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