The folks who run Washington Post Book World aren’t exactly known for their love of popular fiction. In general, “those” sorts of books get in the way of all the space needed for and devoted to nonfiction works and political ramblings packaged as novels. But, for those reading along over the last few weeks, something kind of funny happened. A few weeks ago Jonathan Yardley knocked literary wonder Charles Frazier’s newest Thirteen Moons, and this weekend Ron Charles praised Stephen King’s Lisey’s Story.

What is happening in the world???

First, I have to admit that I read Frazier’s first book Cold Mountain and was somewhat stunned that people stayed awake long enough to get to the end. I thought maybe the novel received all sorts of awards and bestseller titles because that was easier than actually reading the entire thing. When I found out Cold Mountain was going to be a movie, I knew I had somehow lost touch with what those running the studios in Hollywood found entertaining. When I saw the movie - in my home via Netflix where I promptly napped through the middle…possibly almost until the end - I realized Cold Mountain just wasn’t for me. So I sort of chuckled and nodded my head when Yardley talked about Frazier’s Thirteen Moons and said: “Reading Frazier is like sitting by the cracker barrel for hour after hour and listening to an amiable but impossibly gassy guy who talks real slow, says “I reckon” a whole lot and never shuts up.” Happy to know I’m not alone.

In contrast to Frazier’s review, there’s the review of Lisey’s Story. This one comes pretty close to being what one might call glowing. The review ends like this:

But what works beautifully throughout Lisey’s Story is the rich portrait of a marriage and the complicated affection that outlives death. Who would have thought that a man who’s spent the last 30 years scaring the hell out of us would produce a novel about the kind of love that carries us through grief?

King’s review is front page of Sunday’s Book World. The reviewer immediately references King’s lifetime achievement award from the National Book Foundation and the the brouhaha that ensued thereafter - ie, why give a hack such a prestigious award. He then goes on to suggest that King has earned the right to sit with the grown-ups at the literary table:

With Lisey’s Story, King has crashed the exclusive party of literary fiction, and he’ll be no easier to ignore than Carrie at the prom. His new novel is an audacious meditation on the creative process and a remarkable intersection of the different strains of his talent: the sensitivity of his autobiographical essays, the insight of his critical commentary, the suspense of his short stories and the psychological terror of his novels. (And yes, a few hairy monsters.)

So, according to the Book World reviewers:

Charles Frazier = boring and dull
Stephen King = insightful and smart

How can you not get a little chuckle out of that?

This entry was posted on Saturday, October 28th, 2006 at 9:07 am and is filed under About Authors, About Books, About Reviews, About Writing. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.