Jeez - did not make that connection *at all* (although i've never watched House of Cards). This Frank predates HoC Frank, and he's way more flagrantly psychopathic - he has zero self-awareness.
The footnotes gave me a strong Thursday vibe, as did the last chapter, but ultimately, not directly comparable. Thursday is pure fantastical wacky fun, but Book is at best a tiny bit Magical Realism wacky fun. Mostly it's just wacky satire of academia.
But if you can find the UK series, give it a shot. Ian Richardson is fabulous in it. Really creepy, but in an excellent way. There is an (intentional) ick factor to the series but it is a very memorable story and Urquhart (the original "Underwood") is a very memorable character.
Roddy Doyle isn't, actually. His opening chapter is a damned clever piece of writing that none of the others comes close to ... which isn't to say that there isn't some darned funny stuff in their contributions, too. But Doyle pretty much singlehandedly sets up the whole basic scheme. And do yourself a favor and don't expect too much coherence -- this not being a linear novel is deliberately part and parcel of the whole thing ...
The footnotes gave me a strong Thursday vibe, as did the last chapter, but ultimately, not directly comparable. Thursday is pure fantastical wacky fun, but Book is at best a tiny bit Magical Realism wacky fun. Mostly it's just wacky satire of academia.
Re HoC - I can't stand the US version. But then I am a huge fan of the UK version - books and tv series.
http://booklikes.com/house-of-cards-michael-dobbs/book,12410866
But if you can find the UK series, give it a shot. Ian Richardson is fabulous in it. Really creepy, but in an excellent way. There is an (intentional) ick factor to the series but it is a very memorable story and Urquhart (the original "Underwood") is a very memorable character.
(http://booklikes.com/yeats-is-dead-a-mystery-by-15-irish-writers-roddy-doyle-joseph-o-connor-fra/book,275996)