For Some People It’s Bad News All The Time
There’s realism and then there’s the concept of too much information. A few years back I heard about a memoir where author Kathryn Harrison described her love affair with her father. Yeah, I couldn’t say ewww fast enough either. I quickly forgot about the book - happily - until I read reviews of the author’s newest release over the weekend. I don’t know Ms. Harrison but on Sunday I had the urge to take her to lunch and tell her it would all be okay. Somehow. The Washington Post Book World and the New York Times took shots at her book Envy. The Post’s being the worst:
Writers and critics who complain of the shrinking audience for literary fiction argue - validly - that huge advances and advertising budgets for blockbusters reduce the resources left to promote serious novels. But the chances of good literary fiction finding an audience are also damaged when books such as Kathryn Harrison’s Envy are published and passed off as worthy. Ten pages of Envy are enough to make you yearn for the juiciest trash novel you can find; 50 will have you dreaming of box-top recipes, road maps, computer instructions - anything with a purpose.
Yeah, reviewer Charles Taylor said "trash novel" and we know what kind of stuff he would put in that category. Whatever. He also compared the book to a bad Lifetime movie and said things like "…there is enough to rob Envy of any claim to successful fiction, not least Harrison’s writing-seminar symbolism." Did I mention he hated this book?
The review is nasty. No question. Almost makes me happy The Post rarely bothers to review romance. For the record, I would be greatly relieved if no one ever referred to my work as a bad Lifetime movie.
July 20th, 2005 at 12:28 pm
I read The Kiss. Can’t say eewwweee, enough. Would you like to borrow my copy?
July 20th, 2005 at 1:53 pm
I am begging you not to send the book to me. Actually, I’m begging you never to mention it.
And, I gotta say, the fact you own the book - actually went to a little store and bought yourself a little copy - scares me more than I can say.
July 20th, 2005 at 3:33 pm
“For the record, I would be greatly relieved if no one ever referred to my work as a bad Lifetime movie.”
Duly noted. Skinemax it is for you when I read your novella, darlin’!
July 20th, 2005 at 6:14 pm
Candy - I love Skinemax! That works for me. Maybe I won’t hide my book from you after all……
July 21st, 2005 at 5:38 am
I don’t know… I tend to give Charles Taylor the benefit of the doubt. He might have been talking about The Carpetbaggers or Hollywood Wives.
Taylor usually seems like a pretty traditional guy, and traditionally, that’s the kind of thing that’s been thought of as a “trash novel”, not romance or chick lit.
Is there a link to the review, BTW?
July 21st, 2005 at 7:20 am
MJ - You could be right about Taylor. I tend to read the reviews and not pay that much attention to the actual reviewer. This time I did because the review was so negative. I’ll try to track that just to see.
As for the link, I actually read the review in the paper but you could try here: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/print/bookworld/