The United States of Air: a Satire that Mocks the War on Terror by J.M. PorupMy rating: 3 of 5 stars
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This was a lovely gift from
GoodReads through First Reads giveaways – The United States Of Air – a satire
by J. M. Porup. Porup is not a new name in literature. He was associated with
Lonely Planet earlier and then started writing satire. He was born in America,
loves Australia as his first choice, married to a Colombian and his roots
belong to Canada. In 1999 he left the Unites States. A number of books to
already his credit, this is a lovely, crisp and lively satire that was released
in September this year. A rating of 4.2 on Amazon by various reviewers clearly
shows the witty and crispy edge this book has over hitting the right target.
The central character of The
United States of Air is Food Enforcement Officer named Jason Frolick who trusts
his new leader by all means who has made him start believing that fat and food
are the basic enemies of human being and survival is very much possible just by
drinking, eating and inhaling air. His biggest fights starts with himself for
getting rid of the food monkey sitting on his back and demanding food. The
newly elected President Jones whom he calls the Prophet, won on the basis of
his campaign of fighting nation wide against fat. For this he came up with a
new idea of stop eating food totally and starting to survive on air. As per his
theory the evils of fat can be fought well by eating only and only air, nothing
else.
A Global war on Fat is
declared and Agent Jason Frolick sole job becomes putting food terrorists in
the Fat Camp so that they are taught how to stop eating food and do away with
fat just by eating air. All of a sudden a pizza dealer is stuck and blown and
President Jones aka Prophet Jones deputes Jason Frolick as the main
investigator. And this is where a new journey of revelations start for Jason
while resolving this mystery of whacking of pizza dealer.
By the time Jason got to know
the crux of the game behind this War against Fat he loses his best friend Harry
in front of him. It was Harry who was in hospital and to whom Jason admitted
that food is definitely required for the body and there is something else
behind all this game. By the time he could tell him anything further, after finishing
his fight against a group of soldiers living on air, he found Harry had already
passed away.
Overall it is quite
intriguing and introspective kind of satire that points fingers in many
directions. Definitely it is a special treat and not meant for everyone, but
all who love to read satire must put their hands on this book for sure. I would
rate it at a little over 3 out of 5 for the reason that it could have been made
more crispier and spicier by putting more juice into it and rightful
distribution of spices on various slices.
