Comments on: Jane Smiley is Snobby Enough to Aim Low

By: How Jane Smiley Outfoxed Coherence : Edward Champion’s Reluctant Habits

How Jane Smiley Outfoxed Coherence : Edward Champion’s Reluctant Habits — Fri, 16 Jan 2009 16:08:17 +0000

[...] hack novelist Philip K. Dick’s paranoid delusions, they were wrong. (Lethem is crazier than that hack chick-lit novelist Jennifer Weiner if he wishes to afford Mr. Dick a few laurels, although I do like the sound of his surname.) I [...]

By: John Sandman

John Sandman — Thu, 22 May 2008 12:51:51 +0000

I don’t understand why Jane Smiley exists. Nor Michael Chabon, for that matter.

By: gunter

gunter — Thu, 17 Apr 2008 23:33:46 +0000

I understand and basically agree about Smiley’s review, but I remember liking The Age of Grief, especially the title novella.

It seems like Smiley might have been trying for the kind of Yardley-to-Chabon tone that prompted Chabon to write Kavalier and Clay.

Have you seen Weiner’s response to the whole mess? Seems pretty gracious.

By: :::Philebrity…media, culture, music and more::: » Blog Archive » Human Population Now Closer Than Ever Before To Universal Admission That Jennifer Weiner Pretty Much Sucks

Mon, 07 Apr 2008 18:16:12 +0000

[...] not insane. But just like any time a book reviewer plays rough, right now, Smiley is being castigated for being a self-righteous snob for daring to question the aesthetic merits of Weiner’s chosen genre of Fat Girl’s Woes [...]

By: Lady T

Lady T — Mon, 07 Apr 2008 18:15:16 +0000

I’ve been recently reading Smiley’s 13 Ways of Looking at the Novel(trying to get thru it after an earlier attempt failed)and after checking out her review of Certain Girls,I think that I may have to put it aside yet again.

I don’t mind her criticizing some of the plot details of the book but it sounds rather odd to me that an author as established as Smiley acts so shocked at the “pinkness” of the outer and inner cover and seems to blame that on Weiner. Even a blogger gal like me knows that most authors don’t have a lot of say over how their book covers are made(except for big league folks like Grisham and Stephen King).

Also,Smiley seems embarrassed about reading such a “pink” book,like it’s the equivalent of buying a porno mag in public and her condescending tone of “well,she could write something much more artistic but she seems to like being in that big pink box” is sickening.

I reviewed Certain Girls on my blog and liked it very much,as will other folks who also liked Good In Bed(which Smiley seems to have read,but she really thinks that Bruce’s article was “insightful”,I don’t know what to tell her,yeesh!).

By: Snap judgments at pinkyspaperhaus

Snap judgments at pinkyspaperhaus — Mon, 07 Apr 2008 18:10:21 +0000

[...] Ed strikes back at Smiley. Look out. [...]

By: Carolyn

Carolyn — Mon, 07 Apr 2008 18:09:44 +0000

You write, “I’m thinking we’re dealing with a writer who’s about as much fun to read as a 1972 issue of a home decorating magazine.” But Ed – 1972 home decor magazines are HUGE FUN! All the attempts to integrate psychedelic design into suburban living, the knockoff Saarenin chairs, the lush shag carpets and knotty pine paneling. Not fun? Give my home decor books a break.