Tomasky's three major characters are Hillary Clinton, Rudy Giulliani and Rick Lazio. He somehow manages to paint them all in a fairly good light, while dramatizing their oddest characteristics. He seems particularly fascinated by Giulliani, who he claims did the "most bizarre thing a politician has ever done, ever." Tomasky seems to believe that Hillary herself is sort of boring, but the events that were happening around her were anything but.
For all the fun of this book, it has a few flaws. Most outstanding of these is the great disparity in Tomasky's reporting when it comes to upstate rather than New York City politics. Tomasky's sources and knowledge of NYC politics are first rate, but his knowledge of upstate seems to be limited to what he saw on the bus. Much is left out, not the least of which is a full appreciation for Hillary's use of the upstate economy as an issue, and Lazio's perplexing refusal to do the same.
But that's a subject for someone else and not reason enough to skip this book. HILLARY'S TURN is a real page-turner!
As for Hillary herself, Tomasky makes it seem clear that just about everything you read about her in regular media is wrong. That's not to say that you will like her from reading this, but you will most likely begin to understand (and understand why) your opinion has been built at least partially out of distorted information.
My favorite line comes in the prologue: "Hillary has been so reluctant to fill in the blank spaces of her life that people filled them in for her, according to the few clues she dropped along the path, and according to their own ideals and neuroses." I can't see how you can hit the nail on the head more squarely.
How else do you explain the reports of more than a few white, professional women (a demographic that was unexpectedly against Hillary) began spending their $185/hour therapy sessions talking not about themselves, but about Hillary?
More questions: Why did she do so well upstate, where she was not expected to? Why did she finally get the jewish vote? Why did she run in the first place? What happened to change her from such a lousy candidate at the beginning to a winner? Tomasky provides most of the answers, and they probably aren't what you are expecting them to be.
Good reading.