A Novel : Question 3

[Carol]

3. Is this Book strong enough to be a Pulitzer Prize Winner?

[Carol]

While I was reading this book, it was an okay read, but when I heard that it was a Pulitzer Prize Winner I admit I was disappointed as I thought there would be a lot more strength and depth to it. The other ones I've read seem a lot stronger than this one does.

[Cheryl]

IN MY OPINION, IF THIS BOOK WAS SUBMITTED TODAY, IT WOULD NEVER HAVE BEEN A CONTENDER. NOT A FAN…

[Ashley]

Oh, who knows. The more recent Pulitzer winners that I've read are Olive Kitteridge, The Road, March, Middlesex, The Hours, and Beloved, and I think Foreign Affairs could hold its own with those and be a contender. I loved all of them, including Foreign Affairs! Maybe I should be on a Pulitzer committee.

[Cheryl]

GO FOR IT!

[Carol]

Okay all you literary people, one of the reasons I like you all so much is your smarts in so many areas regarding literary "stuff." Ashley your comment above intrigued me, who is on a Pulitzer Committee, and how would one get to be on one. Anyone can answer if you know the answer. Again I'm the dumb one when it comes to this kind of stuff.

Also, Lauren, do you have any comments you would like to add to Cheryl's questions?

[Lauren]

I thought Foreign Affairs deserved a Pulitzer. I'm so tired of award-winning books (and movies) having to be about depressing or "deep" subjects in order to be taken seriously.

I read A Visit to the Goon Squad a couple of years ago (it was the 2011 winner) and while I enjoyed it, I was shocked when it won. It struck me as Similarly, I read Kavalier and Clay a few years ago, which I thought horribly overrated. On the flip side, March was wonderful. Yes, it's personal taste, but I'm surprised sometimes at how committees will sometimes overlook structural problems or a story that is really very basic when pulling away the window dressing in granting these awards.

I'm very, very slowly working my way through all of the Pulitzer Prize Winners for Drama, and while I have a LONG way to go before finishing, one thing I'm noticing already is that a lot of the early award winners were comedies. That's less the case recently, and I don't think it's just with the Pulitzer. For some reason, our culture has built on this weird idea that drama with lots of dysfunction and issues is somehow a higher art form than comedy or books that tackle lighter subject matter.

I wouldn't call Foreign Affairs a comedy by any stretch of the imagination, but it was comparably lightweight in its subject matter compared to a lot of the Pulitzer Winners. But I also thought it was expertly crafted, and Ms. Lurie managed to get into two very different characters heads in a very natural, intimate way.

Carol, regarding the Pulitzer, this isn't exactly what you were asking, but I think it's a good starting place:
http://www.pulitzer.org/administration

[Carol]

Lauren, I've not seen that article/criteria before. I did find somewhere this last week a list of the winners to date, and I'd read 6 of them mostly thanks to you ladies, (NODS)!

I'll read that with more gusto. I read Cheryl's comment on putting Ashley on the committee, will read up on that. There are several of you amazing women it would be an honor to nominate!!!

[Ashley]

Oh goodness, I was joking about the committee!

And Lauren, I love your commentary here and insight about the comedies. I actually thought Foreign Affairs was funny. I mean, the Vogelers are hilarious! And everyone's perception gets immediately undermined by someone else's point of view. And I think the novel is just crazy ironic.

[Lauren]

But I'd totally vote for you, Ashley!

Also, apologies for the typos in my above post. I was trying to multitask and as demonstrated above, I should never try and multitask.

The Vogelers cracked me up. For me, one of the funniest lines in the book is this excerpt from Ch. 8:

"That's all right," says Fred, feeling magnanimusly sorry for the Vogelers, parents of a retarded infant troll.

Also, undermining is such a great word for this book. I think that's why I liked it: Lurie is constantly undermining her characters, the genre in which she is supposedly writing, and so on and so forth. It's fantastic. Having this discussion reminds me of how much I want to read some of her other books.