Kelly's review

I'm feeling kind of rude for writing this, criticising a book you are looking forward to.. I'm usually much more interested in why somebody likes something than why they don't. But every once in a while a book comes along that for some reason pisses me off; this one did just that.

There's nothing offfensive about the book, I just don't know why anybody would bother to write it. Maybe it's a question of my feeling defensive for being the only person I know who didn't like it -really, really didn't like it. I thought it was pointless and boring. Barnes chooses a very minor incident in history and tries to make from it too large an issue, uses too small a mirror to reflect a societal problem. The writing is tepid; his portrayal of Doyle is two-dimensional, melodramatic.

Sorry to be such a wet blanket. Perhaps you should trust
the majority opinion on this one. I am, after all, the guy who loved Special Topics in Calamity Physics; I'm still getting death threats.

I guess that I'm just surprised that you would be so offended by a book that you considered to be merely boring, rather than there being something more substantial wrong with it. I mean, I can relate, but most of those books that I actually grew to hate were ones I /had/ to read for class. Otherwise, I just drifted off and didn't finish it.

I've bought it and its in front of me. I'm going to give it a try. I'll let you know what I think. I'm certainly going into it with an open mind. I don't have any pre-biases except that I heard it was a fun tale that involves Conan Doyle.

I hope you like it!

I didn't mean to sound short with you, I'm sorry. Really, I'm glad you told me what your opinion of the book is. It will make me read it much more closely, and I will probably pick up on flaws I would otherwise have missed.

Thanks.

Hey, you sound "short" at all. Besides. Your question about why I would get so incensed by a book just because I found it mediocre was a good one. Thought about an answer last night with Guinness, but was unsuccessful. I'll continue the self-analysis tonight with scotch.

For example: why is it that Somersault by Kenzaburo Oe occaisioned just a bored shrug of the shoulders, while Dave Egger's You Shall Know Our Velocity made me feel postal?

Anyway, I'm sure you'll read the Barnes with an open Kelly-mind.

I still owe you an answer re: Percy.

Yes, I'm wondering why as well. Perhaps scotch is a better key to the inner self than Guinness. You let me know. The only explanation that I can think of is waste of talent. When you know an author is capable of better, and they just were content to do "just good enough," or didn't go far enough with a story. That would make me incensed in some cases. But I don't know that that is the case here.

I'm looking forward to your Percy answer.

I appreciate your review Kelly, I had an nagging feeling that you may put this book down; perhaps it was my negative feelings towards Barnes and his ongoing smugness in the UK national press that didn't help (my apologies).

I still believe that 10.5 chapters remains his finest work, and there's very little in the later novels to touch that.

whatever you consider in the future with this author, please, please don't go anywhere near "England, England"

Steve.

Again, no, my feelings on the book have nothing to do with you. It had to do with two weeks of constant attempts to read this novel- believe it or not, I got the idea independently. :)

I will stay away from England, England, and probably all of his stuff for a little while.

wELL kELL -
I have another book to recommend to you, but I'll
hold off for a bit.Maybe until your next photo change, which I expect any moment now.
"Ta...

... what's that supposed to mean? That seemed kind of snitty.

Jeez, Kelly, just kidding. Not the snitty type (at least with friends.) I like your photos!
A variety of Kellys.
Didn't want to further swamp your list,is all... I was going to recommend The Information by Martin Amis, one of my favorite books, top twenty maybe. I think I read at the time that it was a thinly veiled satire about a feud he was having with Barnes. (I'm sure an English friend can help me out here.)In any event, the prose is breath-taking. Amis is pretty smug as well: always the underlying sense that he is saying "I can do this." Well, he can, and does. Comes up with the goods. He's clever enough to get away with clever.
Next time you're in a bookshop pick it up and read the first page. See what you think.
Respectfully -always -
RBN

Well, you didn't seem like the type, that's why I was surprised. I'm sorry, text makes it easy for me to misunderstand. I shall assume kidding in the future.

Literary feuds are fun, so I like the sound of that book. I'll look it up in the bookstore and let you know. Thank you for the consideration of my to-read list. It is rather large, as always. I think my favorite literary feud is the one between Tom Clancy and Chris Buckley, at least currently. Chris Buckley is a sassy sort of guy and Clancy has a huge ego, so its good fun, if you can find it.

Yes, you can assume nothing I'd say to you would have barbs. I'll watch my humor though; it often gets misunderstood.

The Amis-Barnes "feud" - lots of hot air and general nonsense - lots of puffed up chests and Alpha male rhetoric in the literary press - avoid! Amis got over it, I still think Barnes is trying to settle old scores.

Just my two penny worth.

Steve.

Thanks Steve. I asked and I received. Have you read the Information? Also- can I join the Oxford group if I own an
Oxford scarf? It's god-damned beautiful. People always ask where I got it, and I tell them Oxford. Then they ask if I went there, and I get to say "just to get the scarf," which is the absolute truth. (I was in England at the time.)

Hi Robert,

Sure, please join the Oxford group - very, very early days with this group, so patience required at the moment. Which Oxford scarf did you get?

No, I haven't read The Information. My last Amis read was Yellow Dog, which I found very funny; some charming characters and I just thought the journalist's name "Clint Smoker" was a treat.

Ha! That's amusing.

Am I allowed to join the group? I spent a summer studying there after I graduated from high school, at Lady Margaret Hall. I have sweatshirts though, not scarfs!

Sure, more the merrier (though pardon my metaphor).

And, just for info, I have no Oxford-branded clothing! Though, obviously, I buy clothes from Oxford.