Basket of Deplorables is a collection of five loosely connected short stories by American author, Tom Rachman.
Basket of Deplorables: Publisher Roger Peet is renowned for his election night parties, and the usual collection of guests is gathered as the results for Clinton vs Trump roll in. It’s a little different this year, though, because his wife Georgina has now been blind for a year after an accident. Perhaps because of that, or perhaps it would have dawned on her anyway, but she finds these party guests incredibly pretentious and shallow. Passing the time between reports, guests tell of the most shameful thing they’ve ever done, Georgie’s bombshell of a story fails, however, to have the impact she had intended. It might be because everyone is so shocked by the unexpected Trump victory, or it might be that she’s now not only unseeing, but unseen.

Truth is for Losers: After his late (but unpopular) elder brother is lost in a plane crash in the Congolese jungle, Glen is tasked with arranging a memorial service. He follows the suggestion of his boss at Starbucks and hires a troupe of actors to eulogise about his brother for the benefit of his heartbroken mother. Fleming was his mom’s favourite, and she never saw the cruel older brother he was. There’s a neat twist at the end of this one.

Leakzilla: some years post-Trump victory, the world’s email has been hacked and put on public display in a disaster dubbed Leakzilla, from which only the very young, the very old, the very poor and the paranoid were exempt. In his 50’s and getting a bit desperate for a partner, Tim goes on an Honour Date. People who promise not to trawl through their prospective date’s old emails use this site to hook up. But Tim has not been entirely honourable, and what he knows about Nelly Hawes backfires on him. A twist in the tail of this one too.

Sad, Wrong, Not Nice: an American fugitive from the Grand Jury who has faked his own death is hiding out in a village in Southern Italy under the protection of an Italian business man. He is bored out of his mind until his local minder dies and he encounters a Kenyan refugee.

How The End Begins: Law student Kelly Hawes, noting the absence of her local Mexican beggar, tracks him down to the hospital. His prognosis sends her searching the internet, where she happens on a bizarre website that predicts the manner of death for any name typed in. her morbid fascination threatens to overcome her usual positive outlook.

While the tales on their own are clever and topical, what elevates this collection is the links between them, the common elements, the characters cameoing in each other’s tales, the echoes that give the reader that “aha” moment. These satirical stories with their political comment may well be a true reflection of Americans today, but that is perhaps best judged by those closer to the scene. For human relationships and interactions, however, Tom Rachman nails it.
The audio version is expertly narrated by Eduardo Ballerini, Robin Miles, Jonathan Davis, Oliver Wyman and Allyson Johnson.