Thank You For Smoking: A Novel
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| Author | Christopher Buckley |
|---|---|
| Country | United States of America |
| Language | English |
| Genre(s) | Satire |
| Publisher | Random House |
| Released | May 17, 1994 |
| Pages | 272 pages |
| ISBN | ISBN 0-679-43174-8 |
Thank You For Smoking: A Novel is a novel by Christopher Buckley, first published in 1994, which tells the story of the life of Nick Naylor, a tobacco lobbyist during the '90s.
[edit] Plot
Naylor is the chief advocate for the Academy of Tobacco Studies, a thinly-disguised publicity firm designed to promote the benefits of cigarettes made by the tobacco companies Naylor, to all intents and purposes, represents.
He utilizes high-profile media events-including appearances on television shows that readers of this novel would immediately recognize-and intentionally provocative rhetoric in order to highlight what his clients view as an unfair crusade against tobacco and nicotine products.
The political satire is heightened by Naylor's informal association with lobbyists from other industries that are subjected to routine vilification in the media, e.g. Polly Bailey-a lobbyist for the alcohol/spirits industry-and Bobby Jay Bliss, who represents the firearms industry.
Collectively, they form what is known as the M.O.D. Squad, "MOD" in this case standing for the phrase "Merchants Of Death."
A pivotal point in the plot occurs when Naylor is kidnapped by a clandestine organization, which then proceeds to cover him in nicotine patches. It is only subsequently that we discover that this was not a rogue, anti-tobacco group, but in fact a clever plot orchestrated by higher-ups within the tobacco industry.
In this respect, the plot mirrors one of Christopher Buckley's other satirical novels, "Little Green Men."
A movie based on the novel was released in 2006. While the characters are essentially the same, the plot differs in many significant ways.
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