SOURCE: Wallberg, Larry. “Smoke Gets in Your Eyes.” Los Angeles Times Book Review (31 July 1994): 9.

In the following review, Wallberg praises the comedy and cinematic qualities of Thank You for Smoking, but comments that the novel lacks strong characterization and a well-developed plot.

The ability to turn readers into would-be stand-up comedians is one of the things that distinguishes a successful comic novel. Humor screams to be shared.

Which is not to say that Christopher Buckley's newest work, Thank You for Smoking, is merely mouth-pleasing, a collection of quirky jokes and smirky turns-of-phrase. It's got some neat visuals and nifty dialogue, too. In crazy scene after crazy scene, the author urges you to turn on the film projector in your head, to watch and listen to his characters as they act out his satiric script.

Take, for example, the luncheon meetings of the “MOD Squad”—that's MOD as in...