Garth Turner's "Sheeple" a big Bust!

Ive had a chance to buy his book...yes I did say buy, not borrow or steal ... and I just had the opportunity to wake up from my mind numbing doldrums to post this review.

In essence it's a re hashing of his blog entries during his time as Conservative MP. Nothing before the election campaign, during the election campaign, or for that matter after the last election campaign.

Its comes off as soft although if you read the ad's for it, its supposed to be a cutting portrayal of his time in Harper's caucus.

Most of the time is spent on his ousting as a member of the Conservative caucus and who said what, and his "helpless" defense of Garth Turner by a couple of MP's. If you didn't really know Garth, the sympathy meter would be off the charts. Knowing who he is and how he operates, its like... BAH...you deserve it. IF it is indeed true.

In one part he speaks of meeting Paul Martin in the halls of the House of Commons and how pleasant it was to speak with him again. Made it sound all rosy and lovable.

Then I remembered something. A funny event during the election in 2006.

http://www.miltoncanadianchampion.com/news/article/53466

Nearing the end of the campaign and trying his best to rally the troops, PM Martin made a visit to Milton to help out Gary Carr, the local MP. Garth recalls that he had some pleasant conversations in the past with Martin, but at that time Martin referred to Garth as a "symbol of financial incompetence" saying "he has blue signs and he's just outside this door" Not exactly a Halmark moment eh? Therefore, Garth omits this event.

Other events that happened locally during this time period are omitted as well. Much needed information on how the local riding association dealt with him being "dooced" as he calls it would provide a better accounting of events in order to ensure its accuracy. And as we know about Garth and his accounting of events, accuracy is the furthest thing from his mind.

This is the truth...how Garth sees the truth. He believes every word he writes, no matter how inaccurate it may be.

If you've read through his blog, you've essentially read through this book minus a few quotes from Conservative party brass. Nothing mentioned of any local campaign happenings...only how Harper belittled him and made him feel small during a stop in Oakville during the election. Aww, someone hurt his feelings. He didn't get the respect that a former cabinet minister (albeit of only 75 days during summer recess of parliament) should get or someone who ran for the leadership of the PC party (and ironically got only 75 votes if I remember correctly). Tough. If you rest on your past laurels you stand for nothing.

This book is a safe book. Its safe because not many people will read it and if they do read it (and are part of the book) he probably wont be sued over it. What he might be sued for is littering. In his book he talks about how he wrote this book and almost decided not to publish it. He walked to his dock at his cottage and threw the manuscript into the lake. He said the next day, he reprinted it all. Not an environmentally nice thing to do ... especially with him being as "green" as he is.

I guess this book was just him venting and getting things off his chest ... disappointingly so. As someone who followed the local campaign as closely as I did, I really did find it lacking of any substance and a reminder that I did read his blog.

Having read other Garth Turner books, I would really put this at the bottom of the list in quality. At least After the Crash had some OOOOMF to it. This is a very flacid recounting of events with toothless aggression.