[lit-ideas] Re: Opening lines
- From: "Judith Evans" <judithevans1@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: <lit-ideas@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Sat, 4 Aug 2007 17:34:24 +0100
>I just finished a novel by someone called Harlan Coben
>that I had to pinch my way through. Read a piece on him
>in some magazine: he's one of those millionaire best-selling
>authors who's under the media's radar screen. (There are at
>least two of them, I guess.) Anyway, by page 10 I figured
>there'd be the hint of one of his "page-turning, twisting plots,"
>but no. Cutesy generic characters
so, it's one of his Myron Bolitar books. -- oh yes, I have read _Promise
Me_. The plot twist, as I recall it, comes pretty near the end. He's
(I'd have thought) better known for his characters, or at least, for
Myron. Well... I have liked some of the series, they do vary in quality,
the earlier ones tend to be better.
It's stuck in a formulaic/character groove (I bet 'formulaic' was redundant),
and
he knows it. But I'd say he's better than a lot of people out there
and he's never, I think, simply copied whole passages between
books (Patricia Cornwell) or served up two virtually identical
stinkers (John Grisham).
>(It's 105 degrees for what feels like te 105th day in a row)
of course it's nothing like that here, but it *is* hot and very humid,
grey-skied,
yet more rain on the way...
Judy Evans, Cardiff
----- Original Message -----
From: carol kirschenbaum
To: lit-ideas@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Sent: Friday, August 03, 2007 12:47 AM
Subject: [lit-ideas] Re: Opening lines
I'd continue, if only to hear more about being in bed with a catamite,
whatever that is. Gutsy opening for a contemporary novel. But like Judy and
Julie, I'd check the book's midsection before committing myself to an unknown
author and an 81 year-old narrator. Depends on my mood, frankly.
I just finished a novel by someone called Harlan Coben that I had to pinch my
way through. Read a piece on him in some magazine: he's one of those
millionaire best-selling authors who's under the media's radar screen. (There
are at least two of them, I guess.) Anyway, by page 10 I figured there'd be
the hint of one of his "page-turning, twisting plots," but no. Cutesy generic
characters. Only slightly daunted, I plunged on to page 50. Yes, a little
plottish stuff, some broad sense of place, but mainly the thing read like an
outline with characters' backstories. I stayed with all 400 pages of the damned
thing, telling myself that it's all right to put down a bad book. Still, Bill
Clinton bothered to write the author a "bravo" note for this novel, called
"Promise Me," and Coben was featured in Harper's or the Atlantic, I think, that
I was assured my first taste of Coben would be sweet...This wasn't even guilt
candy. Not close to Jonathan Kellerman at his worst, for instance. Yet he sells
bundles. I don't get the allure. No cliffhangers a la Da Vinci Code, no juicy
characters, no stealthy or glitzy underworld, no thematic oomphiness or
literary hauteur--nada. It's too bland to believe. Why not just flip on the TV,
it's more stimulating. Yet lots of people still read, and they're reading HIM!
Galling. Harumph.
Okay, I'm done with this rant now.
Carol
(It's 105 degrees for what feels like te 105th day in a row)
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