(Fwd) more harris

[calbert at pop.tiac.net]

Courtesy of Mr. Applebaum:


------- Forwarded Message Follows -------
From:          appleb at us.ibm.com
To:            calbert at pop.tiac.net
Date:          Wed, 9 Jun 1999 08:29:29 -0400


>From last night's daily Publisher's Weekly e-mail newsletter (a bit temporarly
challenging, that last phrase) with more on Hannibal:


Media on Hannibal: Let's Lick Our Lips

This morning we ran PW's take on the complicated Hannibal (Delacorte,
$27.95). Now for what other publications had to say:

Perhaps the most blatant praise comes from Stephen King in the New York
Times Book Review, a review in which he says preciously little about the
book itself. "The worst thing I could do is summarize the novel in any
great detail," he writes. (He also makes a suggestion sure to go over well
at  the marketing and publicity departments--that the flap copy contain
only the words "Here it is.")

Instead, King focuses on Harris, raining down laurels and favorable
comparisons. He writes: "Harris observes America with a cultured civility
and a perfect grasp of Southern idiom that only Tom Wolfe can match. And
Harris understands plot as well as language. The result is a book as
insightful as A Man in Full but rather more successful; there is never the
feeling that the author is carrying his story on his back like a heavy
piece of furniture, teeth gritted and cords popping out on his neck." (Note
to King: Call John Updike.)

The New York Post took almost the opposite position, summarizing much of
the plot and leaving little room for analysis. Among reviewer Chauncey
Mabe's insights: "Reading Hannibal and trying to figure out why Harris is
so much better than other writers at this sort of thing is a bit like
watching a magician. His achievement is all the more impressive because he
uses the same base materials as everyone else: gruesome murder with a high
creep-factor; the insider's view of law enforcement; a fairly pedestrian
commercial-fiction writing style." The Sun-Sentinel has a similar
opinion--in fact, it has exactly the same opinion. Mabe is the book review
editor there, and, with the exception of a couple extra paragraphs in the
Sentinel, the reviews are the same.

Across the pond, several English newspapers demonstrated that Britons like
Harris. (Ugly Americans, anyone?)

The Observer of London is almost as effusive in its praise as King.
"Hannibal grabs you by the ear, the eye, the throat and drags the reader
helplessly around a switchback-cum-maze of narrative ingenuity.... What
lifts it to the level of art is the surprising humanity Harris finds in
Starling and, most surprisingly, in Lecter himself."

Actually, take back what we said about King. London's Guardian confers the
most florid adjectives--and gives bookies everywhere something to think
about. Says the paper: "Tense, dark, humorous, allusive and alert to the
state of the nation, Hannibal is a great popular novel and a plausible
candidate for the Pulitzer prize."

Of course, when all is said and done, reviews only mean so much, for Harris
is virtually review-proof. His audience lies all over the spectrum--from a
literate reader looking for an intelligent thrill to a thrill-seeker
looking for literate intelligence. Like the filmmaker who can at once play
to the multiplex and arthouse crowd, Harris, as our review said, has draped
an ironic philosophical novel in the clothing of a thriller, or vice
versa.--Steven M. Zeitchik

-----------------------------------------------------------
The Source: So How *Did* All Those Papers Get Hannibal Copies?

We didn't see copy of the agreements Delcaorte had booksellers sign, but,
should a similar situation arise again, the publisher might want to
consider a rewording. That, or impose stricter enforcement measures.

The St. Louis Post Dispatch, in a comment of either great naivete or sheer
vindictiveness, outed The Booksource, a St. Louis wholesaler, as the outlet
that "came through with a copy," and allowed the timely review.

Other booksellers also seemed to violate the embargo. One friend who had
ordered the book from B&N.com said it arrived in the mail yesterday. And of
course the New York Times Book Review, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution,
Salon and the British papers all received copies early (from where we--and
Delacorte--are still not sure) and ran reviews or synopses before pub
date.--Steven M. Zeitchik



end

Regards

Bruce Appelbaum
Senior Consultant
IBM/Chem Systems
303 South Broadway
Tarrytown, New York 10591-5410

phone    (914) 631 2828
fax           (914) 631 8851
e-mail    appleb at us.ibm.com

"Any significantly advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic."