Karen Olsson Waterloo

Waterloo

Karen Olsson

Farrar, Straus and Giroux, Oct 2005, $24.00

ISBN: 0374286264

Thirty-two year old political reporter at the recently purchased Waterloo Weekly, Nick, feels his world is coming to an end. First the new owners demand he and other journalists must change the tone of their writing, as reporting accurate breaking news is not as important as serving the customer defined, of course by the owners. His editor says Nick is failing and better improve his performance or else. His former girlfriend, who he misses, is engaged to someone else. Finally, his only escape, The Sunset bar is closing, as the city has no room for dumps and dives since the hi-tech Yuppie explosion.

Nick is assigned to profile newly elected Republican state legislator Beverly, who foxily ran on the values mumbo jumbo. Though married, Beverly is having an affair with a gubernatorial candidate, whose muscles are bigger than his IQ. Nick's Uncle Bones tells him that Beverly is pushing a land deal written for her by a national developer, claiming economic opportunity for everyone; he ignores how the middle class will pay the tab. Knowing this and her affair are not consumer friendly, Nick thinks of ignoring them, but new reporter African-American Andrea Carter encourages him to break the story.

WATERLOO is a harsh condemnation of the government-industrial-media complex that has permeated much of American society in recent years, with Austin serving as the model. The storyline employs two interrelated subplots, as Nick investigates Beverly while her affairs are also on display. Fans bushed with non war "sacrifice" that shrinks disposable income into the red while swallowing Castor oil laws to make us better, will enjoy this muckraking expos of capital politics.

Harriet Klausner