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Title: About the Author : A Novel by John Colapinto ISBN: 0-06-093217-1 Publisher: Perennial Pub. Date: 23 July, 2002 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $12.95 |
Average Customer Rating: 4.3 (61 reviews)
Rating: 3
Summary: And for Dessert...
Comment: "About the Author", simply put, is literary junk food. There's nothing of substance, the writing is only adequate, but the story is wildly entertaining.
The story is about Cal Cunningham, wanna-be novelist, who discovers after his roommate Stewart's untimely death that Stewart is a brilliant writer who has written a book about Cal's womanizing in New York City. Cal claims the book as his own and sends it off to his agent. He soon ascends to literary stardom, finds the woman of his dreams (Stewart's old flame), and is living Happily Ever After, but...someone else has the manuscript and blackmails Cal into giving him money. The plot thickens (or becomes more convoluted) until the epic conclusion.
This book is deeply flawed. The plot moves along at a manic pace, glossing over a lot of events. Everything seems to get blown out to ridiculous proportions, so that it's more of a parody than real life. I suppose that's the author's intention. I disbelieve most of the narrator's views about writing and the author's take on the literary world. Maybe I'm not plugged in enough to what's going on, but I don't know of many 21-25 superstar novelists. The author makes it sound like there's a new one every week. He also has an irritating habit of creating adjectives like "Havishamian" or "Byronesque". If I hadn't read Great Expectation by Dickens, I wouldn't know what "Havishamian" meant, it would have no meaning to me. In my opinion, that kind of writing is just a sloppy shortcut, a lazy habit. Maybe that's just me.
As sort of an aside, one thing I noticed is that while Stewart's writing is so brilliant, the reader doesn't ever really see it first-hand. We hear how wonderful it is from Cal, but never get to read it ourselves. Therefore, do we really know that it's so great? It's sort of like a couple favorite writing-related movies of mine ("Finding Forrester" and "Wonder Boys") where we see & hear only a sentence or two of the young protege's brilliant opus. My personal theory is that the writers of those movies and the author of this book didn't really have the confidence to produce such great writing, so in the case of "About the Author", readers are left with a sloppy second-hand description instead of an illuminating excerpt. OK, an excerpt wasn't necessary for the story, but think how much support it builds in the reader's mind for Cal's jealousy and everyone's subsequent adoration of him. But again, that might just be me.
Despite being deeply flawed, "About the Author" is very entertaining. It is--to use the cliche--a page-turner. Like I said, it's literary junk food; it won't make you think. So if you want to indulge your sweet tooth, go ahead and give this book a read.
Rating: 5
Summary: "PAGE-TURNER OF THE YEAR" FOR ME
Comment: When I heard about this book, I assumed it was another non-fiction book by Colapinto. The title alone is suggestive of a non-fiction work. Well, it certainly isn't in that genre. It's a psychological thriller of the very best kind...not a dark thriller but more of a light one. It's like a roller coaster ride -- a trip to hell and back. Colapinto has managed to take all of my favorite book elements and combine them in one story. I couldn't put it down trying to figure out just what would happen next.
The premise is great. Cal Cunningham is a struggling writer who has hopes of one day penning a great novel. It's no surprise that he hasn't been successful since, for the past two years, he hasn't written a thing...not one page. He thinks about it all the time, and imagines himself as a best-selling author, but hasn't been motivated yet to put that pen to page.
He spends his days at his job stacking books in a local bookstore. At nights, he spends his time carousing with loose women in tawdry bars. He shares a cramped NYC apartment with his roommate Stewart Church, a law school student. Stewart is such a bore and spends most of his time typing away on his laptop in the seclusion of his bedroom. When he comes up for air on the weekends, Cal regales him with stories of his ventures into the wild nightlife of New York. Stewart hangs on every word...and that's all I'm going to tell you. What happens next is unbelievable. One little event, one little decision made, one little lapse in judgment will put Cal on the ride of his life. Unfortunately, he might not be able to jump off when he wants to.
This is the story of how Cal Cunningham becomes a best-selling author. It's by far the page-turner of the year for me reminiscent of other favorite page-turners like Scott Smith's A Simple Plan and Douglas Kennedy's The Big Picture. I can't say enough about this book other than "READ IT." I found out something "about the author" John Colapinto - not only is he terrific but he's also found a new fan in this reader.
Rating: 4
Summary: Well isn't that funny?
Comment: Being a writer myself, I can connect with Cal's struggle. Although I don't handle my writer's block in the *cough* erotic *cough* ways that he does, I really enjoyed his commentary on life in New York. I loved Stewart Church, the law school student/writer, who mistakenly shows Cal his writing. After Stewart is killed in a bike accident, Cal begins living Stewarts "should-have-been" life. He marries his old girlfriend, publishes his book and makes all his money. These strange coincidences in no way whatsoever make the book "dumb" and "unrealistic." This is a great novel and extremely fun and easy to read.
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Title: Lit Life by Kurt Wenzel ISBN: 0375760318 Publisher: Random House Trade Pub. Date: 09 July, 2002 List Price(USD): $13.95 |
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Title: As Nature Made Him : The Boy Who Was Raised as a Girl by John Colapinto ISBN: 0060929596 Publisher: Perennial Pub. Date: 19 February, 2001 List Price(USD): $14.00 |
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Title: The Muse Asylum by David Czuchlewski ISBN: 0142000604 Publisher: Penguin Books Pub. Date: 26 March, 2002 List Price(USD): $13.00 |
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Title: Gotham Tragic: A Novel by Kurt Wenzel ISBN: 0316094005 Publisher: Little, Brown Pub. Date: 23 February, 2004 List Price(USD): $23.95 |
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Title: Love Monkey : A Novel by Kyle Smith ISBN: 0060574534 Publisher: William Morrow Pub. Date: 03 February, 2004 List Price(USD): $23.95 |
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