Cannot wait.
1
Roupenian must have some powerful friends. After Parul Seghal's devastating review on Jan. 8 in this newspaper, I would have thought Roupenian's publisher would have quietly pulped all copies. But no, somehow another review--this one unadulteratedly positive----shows up in the Book Review.
I smell a rat.
Seghal: "This is a dull, needy book. The desire to seem shocking — as opposed to a curiosity about thresholds physical and ethical — tends to produce provocation of a very plaintive sort."
Caveat emptor.
5
@Skeptical in the northeast
I agree with the scent of this review. Especially after after Dwight Garner's hatchet job on Anna Burns' Booker-winning Milkman did not seem to deserve a second opinion.
Perhaps this was because Milkman was published by small publisher Graywolf Press, where as Roupenian was published by giant Simon & Schuster.
In regards to Dwight Garner's flippant and unconsidered review of Milkman, it did seem that he was mostly angry that a more straight-forward novel, such as The Mars Room, which he had favourably reviewed earlier and was also on the Booker shortlist, was overlooked for the prize.
As a reader NYtimes I expect your book reviewers to be less personally motivated or corporately manipulated than this. Or at least less transparent about it.
3
I read that story when the media first freaked out about it. I was very unimpressed with its alleged scandalousness.
IRL: People have sex. People sometimes make not the best decisions about sex partners. There was no violence in this story. There was second guessing and regret on the narrator's part. Good. Lesson learned. Think twice next time.
Save your typing trying to shame me for "blaming the victim." The only victim in this whole thing is the person who thinks they are going to be reading an interesting story. Disappointing waste of time.
4
I read Cat Person and thought it was great. But I disagree with Ms. Holmes that's it's dark. It's like Phil Connors said in Groundhog Day: It’s gonna be cold, it’s gonna be grey, and it’s gonna last you for the rest of your life. I can't imaging.....
Nothing against Roupenian and the other writers you mentioned, but the only writer in the past twenty years who's shown what stunning things can be done with words on a page is Emma Cline ("The Girls").
Thank you for answering the question I was wondering - are all of her stories as bad as "Cat Person?"
3
Sounds pretty interesting. I'll have to check it out. I'm addicted to reading books on my phone Kindle in bed now, with the words comfortably close to my face and backlit so I can keep the light off and rest my chin on the pillow.
Also, “Barbara the Slut and Other People” is an incredible title. LOL. Gonna have to look at that as well. Who could possibly challenge Barb on the interesting meeting though?
Oh, I have a book too btw:
https://www.amazon.com/GOD-LAUGHS-AT-DIRTY-JOKES/dp/0692277986
@Rob *meter* not *meeting* OOOOPPPS