Is the Political Novel Dead?

Yeah, It reminded me (not in a good way) of Cory Doctorow's works in the sense that even when I agreed with the general sentiment, I was infuriated by how much the "good" characters were winning by arguing against cartoonish villains.

It's a really flimsy story IMO, but I'm glad people are attempting to write about what's going on and where they think things are going.

The novel was bad and the movie was worse.

I'd say that Neuromancer, though it is not commonly regarded as a political novel, is more useful as a metaphor, given it predicts the explosion of players and political complexity created by the inability of any one group to exercise control over technology, which is a theme pretty much absent from 1984.

As to whether the political novel is dead, it is always kicking about in science fiction, where fashions have their own undercurrents that are much less subject to the whims of what can be regarded as literature. Science fiction, probably to its benefit, being rarely regarded as literature in the first place.

I think the 1984 of our times is The Road by Cormac McCarthy, and the implications of that are too bleak for either politicians or literary critics to take on.

Could you describe what missing elements Vonnegut had?

Weirdly, the politics takes a backseat to the protagonists personal problems, in particular her anxiety over public speaking. While the political elements are in there, they feel like they're in the background. The primary antagonist is motivated by a personal vendetta, not his political positions.

Let’s not forget the Game of Thrones books, which depict politics in a strikingly selfish and human way

Much of sci fi and fantasy is in fact commentary on our current world, often political. Almost everything Ursula Le Guin wrote was political. Kim Stanley Robinson talks fairly blatantly about the struggle against capitalism. Orson Scott Card writes a lot about nation state struggles. Margaret Atwood has a popular, political tv show on right now, watered down as it is, adapted from her very political novels. I don't know how you would describe Cory Doctorow without mentioning political struggle. Alan Moore is very, very political, and should be considered a novelist. And it goes without saying, most influential early sci fi was also political (Ray Bradbury, Heinlein, Asimov, Jack London, Frank Herbert, HG Wells).

IMHO this article seems to be more about how the novel has left social consciousness entirely. That's a far less tractable problem than reading the many political novels in print now. Either that or the author is blind to how wide politics can be—pretty much all complex conflict has some political bearing.

Really?

Ironically on your point, a book seems like a poor way to send a message to this particular president...