‘My Search for Warren Harding’ by Robert Plunket    (1983, 2023) – 277 pages

With his handsome looks, Warren G. Harding looked like a United States President. That’s about all he had going for him. Due to all the fraud and corruption during his administration, Harding was always considered the worst President in United States history until he got Trumped recently.

Perhaps the accomplishment Warren Harding is most famous for is fathering an illegitimate child while serving as a US Senator.

‘My Search for Warren Harding’ is a novel written way back in 1983 that was surprisingly republished this year. Apparently this novel struck a chord with enough readers including novelist Danzy Senna who wrote the introduction to the now republished novel.

It’s about this obnoxious young guy named Elliot Weiner who believes he has found his way to fame and fortune. He has tracked down Harding’s granddaughter Jonica from this mistress Harding had a long time ago. Better yet, the mistress Rebekah herself is still alive, now in her eighties. Maybe Elliot can even track down the correspondence between Harding and Rebekah. Actual letters from a former President could be very valuable.

As I mentioned before, this Elliot is very cynical and obnoxious. He is always fat-shaming Jonica, the granddaughter he is pretending to be smitten with. Elliot finds fault with everyone he comes in contact including former Hollywood stars who are friends with Rebekah and Jonica.

“So here you are Elliot – on a Texas millionaire’s yacht, in the company of a big Hollywood star (snort) and a granddaughter of a President of the United States. Enjoy it while you can . . . So the yacht was tacky, so she was a washed up alcoholic – still I was thrilled.”

If you’re expecting to find out anything useful or even interesting regarding Warren Harding forget it, you are out of luck here. This is what is known as a shaggy dog story, a long rambling joke of a story that is amusing because it is so pointless.

We all want to take a Great Leap forward with our reading, but sometimes it’s fun to just stop and get the joke.

I am a fan of shaggy-dog stories, but perhaps this one went on for a little too long, by a hundred pages or so.

Grade:   B