Regular readers of this blog may not know that one of the many hats I wear is as a writer. In fact, it is a new hat that I am trying on for size. I just had my first book review, of Sam Lipsyte’s novel, The Ask, published by Slant Magazine. Started by a former Times writer, Slant is a pop culture criticism magazine and I’m in exceptionally good company. It is a total honor to have my writing alongside the writers there.
If you have any interest, be sure to check out the piece, here is an extract to whet your appetite:
Sam Lipsyte’s The Ask: A Novel is exactly the kind of book one expects to be churned out of the academy these days: It’s swift, entertaining, technically perfect, and full of the kind of verbal pyrotechnics that apparently audiences don’t want. As A.O. Scott mentioned in a recent New York Times article: “Since its publication in March, The Ask has sold around 7,000 copies. Disappointing? Of course. Our generation wouldn’t have it any other way.”
For a certain kind of writer, and a certain kind of audience, this fact is less a failure than a badge of honor, mortgage payments and college tuition be damned. In fact, Generation X loves and requires this kind of commercial apathy. It secures them in a safety field of narcissism and rejection of all things mainstream, even though it’s the culture that has passed them by and not the other way around. Celebrating their own failure is the only kind of victory they can achieve.
