Nothing Is Wrong and Here Is Why

Washington Post columnist Alexandra Petri's darkly humorous second book, Nothing Is Wrong and Here Is Why, not-so-gently guides readers through years of upheaval under the Trump administration and during the campaign period in the months prior. Biting and irreverent, Petri's collected columns poke morbid fun at topics as serious as Supreme Court hearings and as banal but symbolic as White House Christmas decorations.

Essays such as "A Humanizing Profile of Your Local Neo-Nazi" and "Play the 'Woman Card' and Reap These Rewards" are best consumed in multiple sittings, lest readers lose their sense of time or reality, especially as the essays are not in chronological order, but Petri (A Field Guide to Awkward Silences) is in on the joke.

"You entered the week comparatively young and spry and now you are a withered and wretched crone, demanding ointment, and things that you could swear happened yesterday were simultaneously three hundred years ago and never. This is normal. This is how time works now. Friday is both twice a week and not at all. Each Friday lasts six years. Tuesdays are only sometimes."

Standouts like "Waiting for Pivot," a parody of Waiting for Godot, remind readers of how the lines drawn by countless public figures have shifted, faded or disappeared completely. Meanwhile, essays such as "Why Won't This Career Die" are more personal, using satire not to amuse but to commiserate.

Touching on wide-ranging topics including gun violence, immigration and journalism itself, Nothing Is Wrong and Here Is Why will have readers laughing, grinding their teeth or crying. Possibly all three at once. --Suzanne Krohn, editor, Love in Panels

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