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News & ArtsThursday, September 27, 2012
Books Are People Really That Excited About J.K. Rowling's New Book?
Posted by Paul Constant on Thu, Sep 27, 2012 at 12:36 PM
Every book blog I follow is raptly covering the debut of J.K. Rowling's first novel to address wholly adult themes, The Casual Vacancy. Here's Michiko Kakutani's review in the New York Times (featuring, yes, a "limned.")
But I don't really understand the drive for people to cover this book like it's a sensation. Rowling has surely written one of the great young adult series of our time. And that's basically all that she's written. Why should this book, about something completely different, written in a completely different style, be treated like an automatic blockbuster? is it just because Rowling is now absurdly rich and very famous? Lightning will surely not strike twice, and it seems lazy and kind of ignorant to expect the same kind of successes—financial and literary—from this book. With all the great fiction coming out this fall (and it is a sorta-depressing truth that every week, I have to decide between two or three great new books for my section), it seems like a waste that all this energy is expended on a book that cannot possibly live up to whatever manufactured expectations are being built for it. But let's take it to the streets:
1
People want to cover the new book by one of the best selling authors of all time?! How odd and incomprehensible.
2
Lightning will surely not strike twice, and it seems lazy and kind of ignorant to expect the same kind of successes—financial and literary—from this book.
If this book isn't top 5 (and probably #1) on the NYT and Amazon bestsellers lists, I'll eat my hat. This is basically one of the biggest releases ever because she's following up on one of the most successful and influential book projects of all time. I mean, if she only sells, oh, 10% of the sales rate of the Deathly Hallows, will people call this book a flop?
Of course not--10% of Deathy Hallows would have most authors on their eight book crapping their pants saying "LOOK AT ALL THE ROYALTIES AND THIS FAT OPTION CHECK WOW, I JUST PAID OFF MY MORTGAGE!!"
3
Yeah, I just looked it up. Deathly Hallows in hardcover sold 15,000,000 copies in the first 24 hours of it's sales in just the USA. If you tell most authors their next book was going to sell 1.5 million copies in twenty four hours, to accentuate my point above, they're probably going to sell around, I guess, 4-5 million copies total. That's borderline, what, Jurassic Park territory?
That's a successful book by any measure...
That's a successful book by any measure...
4
I am about a third of the way through her new book, and it isn't bad. It is very well written, but it is very British, and unless you are a fan of British fiction, most people may not care for it. I reserve full judgement until I am finished, however.
You are right, Paul, there is so much new stuff coming out daily that I am overwhelmed. As a problem, though, I'm glad to have it.
You are right, Paul, there is so much new stuff coming out daily that I am overwhelmed. As a problem, though, I'm glad to have it.
5
Jeez, who are the two sad souls who voted for the third option?
"If you go home with somebody and they don't have books, don't fuck them!" - John Waters
"If you go home with somebody and they don't have books, don't fuck them!" - John Waters
6
I liked the Harry Potter books, but I think their high quality derived primarily from the worldbuilding and intricate plots. Her writing ability, on the other hand, seems to me to be more in question.
From the descriptions I've read of A Casual Vacancy, it seems like a really conscious attempt to say "Look, I'm a serious writer for serious people." Whether that's true is what I'm curious about.
From the descriptions I've read of A Casual Vacancy, it seems like a really conscious attempt to say "Look, I'm a serious writer for serious people." Whether that's true is what I'm curious about.
7
Are you being contrarian just for the hell of it, or do you really not understand why this book would generate a lot of buzz -- regardless of its literary quality?
8
http://storify.com/requireshate/the-casu…
Someone live-tweeted while reading the book last night. It's not pretty.
Someone live-tweeted while reading the book last night. It's not pretty.
9
J.K. Rowling is a good author. No, she isn't the best thing to hit the literary world since sliced Dickens (I suck at analogies) but damn if the woman isn't a terrific storyteller. The Harry Potter series was popular not just because of the story but because of the way she told the story. She knows how to write a hook.
If you'd like to see what it looks like when a terrific fuckwad tries to do the same without the skills of Rowling, just check out I Am Number 4. (On second thought, don't waste your time. Trust me.)
I'll read the book and hope it's as good as many of the Harry Potter books, but it won't top my list. It will definitely be one of my guilty pleasures rather than required reading.
If you'd like to see what it looks like when a terrific fuckwad tries to do the same without the skills of Rowling, just check out I Am Number 4. (On second thought, don't waste your time. Trust me.)
I'll read the book and hope it's as good as many of the Harry Potter books, but it won't top my list. It will definitely be one of my guilty pleasures rather than required reading.
11
I once wrote to the New York Times ombudgsman about Kakutani's use of "limned" and "elegiac". They ran a search on all Kakutani's pieces and replied that it really wasn't that common after all. I was so sure!
13
BREAKING NEWS: Major Publishing Houses Seem Lazy, Kind of Ignorant
...it seems lazy and kind of ignorant...
BREAKING NEWS: Major Publishing Houses Seem Lazy, Kind of Ignorant
18
@15 Ahh, ok. In my mind, novel=book. Perhaps I was unnecessarily critical of those who selected the third option. Ironic, really, since I also prefer nonfiction.
20
@19 for the same reason we are a mecca for manga.
Maybe we don't take ourselves that seriously? Well, except for a few of you.
Maybe we don't take ourselves that seriously? Well, except for a few of you.
22
She's a smart, savvy lady who pulled Harry Potter right out of her ass, so she gets to do whatever she wants
23
She wrote a series of highly popular and successful novels. With that kind of track record, any sane publisher will give her carte blanche to write whatever the hell she wants, and hope for the best. Duh.
26
Social realism and a sense of ethics are what I appreciated the most about the HP books. I thought they peaked early, at Book 3, and were almost unreadable by the end, when the worldbuilding was mostly done and Rowling was just cranking out PG-13 action scripts under pressure. I'm hoping to see more of what I like in this new book and less of what I don't.
That said, @8: eeeee, that's... not promising.
That said, @8: eeeee, that's... not promising.
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