Genre
Non-Fiction
Setting and Context
Primarily the United States
Narrator and Point of View
Told from Bob Woodward's point of view.
Tone and Mood
Tone: Inquisitive, wide-ranging, questioning, and indicting
Mood: Sad, Sorrowful, and Angry
Protagonist and Antagonist
Trump is portrayed in an antagonistic light.
Major Conflict
The Trump administration's fight - and in Woodward's opinion, failure - to control the Coronavirus in the United States while dealing with threats at home and abroad.
Climax
As this is a non-fiction book, it has no climax.
Foreshadowing
Trump downplaying the Coronavirus is foreshadowed by a conversation he had with Woodward in which he admitted to playing it down.
Understatement
Often, Trump downplayed and understated the threat the virus posed to the U.S. and the world (something which he readily admitted to Woodward).
Allusions
Virology, Science, History, Geography, Religion, and Politics.
Imagery
Woodward uses provocative imagery to describe Trump's ineptitude when handling COVID-19.
Paradox
In the book, Trump says that "It's also more deadly than even your strenuous flus...This is deadly stuff." However, he said that "[he] still like[s] playing it down, because [he] do[es]n't want to create a panic".
Parallelism
Trump's dealings and interactions with dictators are paralleled throughout the book (with Putin and Kim Jong-un, for example).
Metonymy and Synecdoche
Woodward uses neither metonymy nor synecdoche in the book.
Personification
COVID-19 is often personified in the book.
