well read

The book was well read. The story is interesting, but it is a bit all over the place. Still interesting.

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Wow!

A magnificently revealing book that goes to the heart of the election that devistated a nation and brought the worst American President in history to power.

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Interesting story ruined by the narration

Tbh, I only got about a third of the way through before I couldnt do it anymore. The story is interesting but the narration is awful. It felt like I was being read a textbook or it was being read by AI. Ruined the book for me.

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A stark reminder why they lost...

What would have made Shattered better?

The book has some soft criticisms of the Clinton's, the kind you might roll out in a job interview, 'Interviewer - what is a weakness of yours' HRC - 'I am too community minded and gave so much of myself to help others'.

The too long didn't read summation of this book is 'James Comey and white non educated voters cost HRC the election. HRC is amazing'.

What was most disappointing about Jonathan Allen and Amie Parnes ’s story?

It glossed over HRC's weaknesses and minimised her involvement in scandal after scandal.

What does Kimberly Farr bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you had only read the book?

Good voice inflection.

What reaction did this book spark in you? Anger, sadness, disappointment?

A quizzical understanding of the mindset of American Liberals.

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The Gulf Between Politicians and Reality

When you compare journalistic writing styles there is a. The kind of analytical, fair-minded, deep-thinking and superlative investigative writing style of e.g. John Carryrou in his book "Bad Blood" and b. The superficial, sycophantic and self-deluded writing style of so-called journalists that only understand a political food-chain. i.e. "Shattered".

Starting with the inability to answer the most basic question such as, 'why a country as wealthy and powerful as the United States' can only come up in the end with these two 'finalists' is for us, non-Americans, an eternal enigma.

But given that this may be conveniently beyond of the scope of the book, what is not beyond the scope is the failure to recognise (sic) any contribution of any international geopolitical trend (apart from Bill Clinton loosely mentioning it), the total detachment of US and international politics from the democratic reality of grass-roots self-determination (and aspirations) and the utter capitulation of politics to 'special interest' and lobby groups that has hijacked not just US politics but the entire global political agenda.

Whether it's so-called 'man-made global warming' or 'gay marriage', or 'social engineering' or business interests, the part played by the gulf between your leaders and the people who's standard of living is spiraling downwards out-of-control that drove Trump's success was barely explored. The comparatively few who prosper at the cost of the many who lack of their own champion after the demise of Sanders. Mind you, even the latter as a choice strikes an outsider as bizarre when you tally up the outbursts and eccentricities.

Instead, the time spent on the endless conveyor belt introducing one-political-nullity-after-another, portrayed as 'gifted geniuses' I guess doesn't just demonstrate how cheaply the word genius (or gifted) goes these days but seems to gives the book (laughingly) the feel of a 'celebrity roast' where everyone's in on the joke and everybody wins a prize. I'm sure everyone who got their name mentioned bought a copy.

Serious national issues were hardly touched. For example the outcry of alleged electoral fraud over the Sanders/'Hillary' primaries as outlined in documents (globally available and read I assure you) 'electionjusticeusa', 'A Report on the Fatally Flawed 2016 Primaries'. While an allegation (and apparently a well-thought-through allegation), voting irregularities played no part in this book while paradoxically, plenty of so-called irregularities are now being leveled at your president thanks to 'an ex-red under every bed' new political terror.

Sadly, all this replaces any serious analysis or understanding that should have been the object of why Hillary's campaign failed through all three lenses; local, national and the influence of international geopolitical trends. Instead, this book is a lightweight political 'wake' with little in the way of objectivity, understanding beyond the political food-chain and it's also downright boring. It finally refuses to say those 'three little words'. It's her fault.

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1 person found this helpful