Comments on: Ana Marie Cox’s Novel: A Shaggy Dog?

By: Ron

Ron — Thu, 05 Jan 2006 20:17:35 +0000

Dear Lula, among the reviewers using the tactic I described are the very USA TODAY and PW reviews Ed quotes above. I said “lots of” rather than “all” for a reason.

By: Jackson West

Jackson West — Thu, 05 Jan 2006 04:54:05 +0000

Christopher Buckley seems to be playing the role of Ana Marie's Critic in Shining Armor.

By: Lula

Lula — Wed, 04 Jan 2006 06:42:00 +0000

Ron says: “…lots of reviewers may be criticizing Dog Days for not being the book people expected Cox to write…”

Who are the reviewers doing this? Not Maslin, who according to Ron’s own assertion on Galleycat “…doesn’t really seem to know that much about Ana Marie Cox…”

Don’t you love it when contradictory arguments are applied depending on what’s convenient?

By: ed

ed — Wed, 04 Jan 2006 01:28:30 +0000

Carolyn: I wasn’t going to say it, but yeah…

By: Carolyn

Carolyn — Wed, 04 Jan 2006 01:26:27 +0000

Ouch, bad day for Ana Marie to quit the blog, huh?

By: Ron

Ron — Tue, 03 Jan 2006 23:34:36 +0000

What, you’re expecting Janet Maslin to know something remotely cutting-edge?

By: Richard

Richard — Tue, 03 Jan 2006 23:29:11 +0000

I noticed the Times review called it a blovel. I had thought the operative term was blook.

By: DrMabuse

DrMabuse — Tue, 03 Jan 2006 22:54:15 +0000

I haven’t read it. So I can’t comment upon its merits or failures. But I think the expectations are high here, because people actually expected a comic narrative from Cox that applied her vim and wit to penetrating insight and got a skimpy and banal narrative instead.

By: Ron

Ron — Tue, 03 Jan 2006 22:43:50 +0000

While lots of reviewers may be criticizing Dog Days for not being the book people expected Cox to write, if you approach the book without the Wonkette baggage, it's entertaining enough. Is it Henry Adams' Democracy? Not by a long shot, but then what the hell else is? People who dig Joe Klein's novels should enjoy this one well enough.