Estimated reading time: 5 minutes
Meet Rachel Klein. It’s her last day on the job in the White House. She works in the fictional White House Office of Presidential Correspondence. There, Rachel uses Scotch tape to reconstruct the documents President Donald Trump rips up and tosses into the trash or drops onto the floor. Yes, he actually did this (and presumably still does). That office exists, though it’s really called the WHORM (White House Office of Records Management.). And, yes, people on his White House staff actually did tape these pieces of paper back together to comply with the Presidential Records Act. So, are you laughing now? Well, ready or not, you won’t guess what happens next in humorist Elinor Lipman’s wacky spoof of the Trump White House in Rachel to the Rescue. Welcome to a satirical take on a man who’s already a caricature of himself.
All in all, it’s a disastrous day for Rachel Klein
So, naturally, having just taped together the umpteenth tiny shred of paper, Rachel dashes out a long email screed voicing every ounce of frustration and anger about the President, his thoughtless (and illegal) shredding habit, and life in general, and sends it off . . . mistakenly, thinking it’s going to her best bud on the staff . . . to all 1,800 people who work in the White House. And that, of course, is the end of Rachel Klein’s job for the Trump Administration. Guards escort her to the gate. She staggers out in the real world and is promptly hit by a car speeding into the White House. And once we learn the identity of the driver, Lipman’s setup is complete. Because who she is, and why she’s in such a rush, is enough to trigger yet another front-page scandal in this scandal-plagued administration.
Rachel to the Rescue by Elinor Lipman (2020) 304 pages ★★★☆☆
You won’t guess what happens next. But is it funny?
Okay, here’s the deal. That woman driver turns out to be a tall blonde British optometrist living in Washington. She’s on her way to a weekly appointment with the President. Now, this is bad enough, because Mr. Trump is unwilling to admit that he’s myopic, so it’s unthinkable that anyone might know he needs glasses. But no optometrist would need to see him every Thursday for that alone, right? Anyway, who ever heard of an optometrist who makes house calls? So, there’s something else going on here. And that’s the real scandal. Got it? And have you heard enough? Of course, this is the bare beginning of this cockamamie story. It grows vastly more complicated and, if you can believe it, even more far-fetched. Maybe some readers, perhaps long-time fans of Ms. Lipman, will find this funny. While I may have smiled a few times, I didn’t.
About the author
Elinor Lipman was born in 1950 to a Jewish family in Lowell, Massachusetts. She earned a degree in journalism at what is now Simmons University. After years working in a variety of journalistic jobs, she began writing fiction in 1979. Lipman is the author of fourteen novels, two works of nonfiction, and a collection of short stories. She has taught at Simmons, Hampshire, and Smith Colleges. She was married for many years and had a son, but her husband died in 2009. Lipman now lives in Manhattan.
You can find a detailed biography of the author on her website.
For related reading
For the factual basis on which this novel is grounded, see “‘He never stopped ripping things up’: Inside Trump’s relentless document destruction habits” (Washington Post, February 5, 2022).
And for a much more positive review of this book,, see “Looking for a Funny Novel Set in Washington, D.C.? Start Here.” (New York Times, July 13, 2021). Or see a dueling review published the same day in the Washington Post: “Elinor Lipman’s ‘Rachel to the Rescue’ is a rom-com about a Trump staffer. Do we care enough to giggle?” The Post reviewer refers to the novel as “this possibly sociopathic book.” Which sounds a little closer to the mark.
You might care to check out:
And you can always find my most popular reviews, and the most recent ones, on the Home Page.
