Just seen the first two reviews of the book - online reviews, which are not quite as heavyweight as newspaper reviews, but interesting nonetheless, as these were the first pukka evaluations of the Well-Tempered Clavier from people who were not in the Coles cheer-leader team.
You can imagine how I was rubbing my hands with glee at the prospect of this Niagara - this orgasm - of genuine praise that was about to be showered on me.
First up: Kimbofo. http://kimbofo.typepad.com/readingmatters/2007/10/the-well-temper.html#more/
I didn't like the way things were going when Kimbo said that you had to "wade" through half the book before you got to the sex scenes. Wade? Wade??? What sort of word is that?
Then Kimbo moves on to "a lot of repetition", and Coles' "slightly grating narrative style", before coming up with this killer line at the end: "It won't shatter your world, although it will brighten up a rainy day or, as in my case, a long-haul flight."
Harr-bloody-rumph! I mean I know that I've dished it out quite a few times over the years - all right, many, many times - but boy was I smarting. Kimbo only gave it three measly stars as well.
Anyway, after I'd managed to put a lid on my seething rage - ("wade"??? "slightly grating"??) - I did see that Kimbo did actually make one very good point ... "There is a lot of repetition ... which could easily be sorted out with a little judicious editing."
Exactly! Judicious editing! As opposed to the highly injudicious editing of Tom, the bittersweet publisher. I blame him entirely.
Oh yes, but there was one other review: Altogether nicer, from a woman with quite palpable taste, class, style and general intellectual rigour.
http://randomjottings.typepad.com/random_jottings_of_an_ope/
She laid it on with a trowel (which, I tell you, is just how first-time authors like it). Some of her tastier lines: "I really enjoyed this book and ... I shall be keeping a close eye out in future for more from William Coles ..."
Yes indeed - my glistering literary future.
Though I'm afraid the "follow-up" books are more than likely to be a little less polished than the Clavier - but that's because I'm going to be resuscitating at least three of the unpublished turkeys that are still festering in my back cupboard.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
2 comments:
when you say "glistering", do you mean to say glistening or listerine?
Thank you Tim, you're being very helpful with your comments. I did in fact mean "GLISTERING" - as in, "all that glisters is not gold". It gives me great pleasure to fill in occasionally some of your (vast) lacunae.
Post a Comment