[Satire] How Lack of Empathy in “The Sandersons Fail Manhattan” Fails Its Satire - Chicago Review of Books

How Lack of Empathy in “The Sandersons Fail Manhattan” Fails Its Satire - Chicago Review of Books

Cutting satire depends on humor and irony, but also empathy. When the political commentary lacks that final ingredient, as in Scott Johnston’s The Sandersons Fail Manhattan, we’re left with unrelatable, unmoving characters who exist in a world detached from reality. The novel’s publicity sheet bills it as a satire mocking Manhattan’s elite, their private schools, and the society behind them. It’s a subject with plenty of mass appeal, like last y…