AARP The Magazine - May/June 2011

Speaking of Books

Lost in America,
Circa 2030

Albert Brooks, 63, pens a novel of generational warfare

and someone hates me.

Q: In the novel Matthew Bernstein, our 47th president, fears his legacy will be “the first divorced half-Jew president who sold America’s biggest city to China.” Is it a leap to think you might play him in the movie version of 2030? A: For the kind of movies I make, the budgets I get are low. There’s no way I could tell this story [on film]. I couldn’t cut to China, cut to America, film a 9. 1 earthquake that levels L.A. To make this movie correctly would cost $150 million.

Q: So a book’s easier to write than a screenplay?

A: Writing 2030 was the most liberating creative experience I’ve ever had. As the characters developed, some of the things I originally thought they might do just didn’t pan out. That’s the coolest thing in the world; it’s at the heart of creation. It’s like you’re honing these chess pieces, and then they start to move on their own. —Allan Fallow

Hot Reads

THE LOVE OF MY YOUTH

BY MARY GORDON
Two American travel-
ers, Miranda and
Adam, briefly reunite
in Rome 36 years after
their painful breakup. Their visits to
the city’s iconic monuments trigger
dorm-style discussions of truth,
beauty, regret, and gelato. But the tru-
ly compelling bits are the flashbacks
to the couple’s youthful betrayals.

UPPITY: MY UNTOLD STORY ABOU T THE GAMES PEOPLE PLAY

BY BILL WHITE
Recalling three dec-
ades as an All-Star
first baseman, a broadcaster, and
National League president, White
revisits his battles against racism
on the field and in the front office.
Amid insider gossip aplenty, White
concedes he “didn’t love baseball.”

Q: 2030:TheRealStoryof What HappenstoAmericais deadly serious. A: I try to pepper everything I do with humor, but the future doesn’t look so funny to me. (Laughs.) Q: That explains a plot in which youthful “resentment gangs” shoot up busloads of “olds,” hijack a retirement ship, and bomb AARP HQ. A: Being part of a large group of people historically accused of taking, I can see how newer generations would be resentful. How would you feel if you were 30 and saw 8,000 people a day entering into Social Security? You’d say, “Get the f*** off the planet!” Q: That bad, huh? A: Well, let’s just say I’m sensitive to these things—hey, that’s my job! I can tell when I go into a supermarket

BRINGING ADAM HOME: THE ABDUCTION THAT CHANGED AMERICA BY LES STANDIFORD WITH DETECTIVE SERGEANT JOE MATTHEWS

The 1981 murder of six-year-old Adam Walsh put a moat around American childhood and turned his father, John, into a national champion for child protection. How Adam’s killer was identified in 2008 makes gripping reading.

A Covert Affair: The Adventures of Julia Child and Paul Child in the OSS BY JENNET CONAN T. As an operative in the World War II precursor to the CIA, 6-foot-2-inch socialite Julia Mc Williams—the future grande dame of coq au vin—found herself evading Japanese submarines, battling “Delhi belly,” and falling in love with fellow OSS agent Paul Child. Back home, the couple got snared in a web of Red-scare lies—and Soviet spies. ;