Curmudgeon: October 2012

Wednesday, October 17, 2012

The Book Recommendation

Since reading Michael Chabon's most recent novel, Telegraph Avenue, I have been enthusiastically recommending it to every sentient reader I know. From a writer's point of view, Chabon's metaphors and similes were exciting to read, like watching a muscular gymnast doing difficult stunts and sticking every landing. Even the lesser characters seemed well developed and nuanced. The dialog was authentic to my ear.

I had neglected to mention this book to my father. Suggesting books to a lifelong journalist who seems to read a book a day is rather like carrying coals to Newcastle. An e-mail arrived from him suggesting this book to me, and suggesting that I first get a notebook to record all the great use of language I would encounter.

Over Thai food the other night, I recommended this book to my good friend Bill Wood. Bill is someone who is not afraid to grab life with both hands and shake it vigorously. He wrote and self-published a novel, Mothertime. He wrote songs which he recorded on multiple CD's. He opens people up, rummages around inside them, and then sews them up again. This requires a certain amount of confidence. Bill is not always right, but he is seldom unsure.

At times I am incorrect but not unsure. Through my life, whenever I am certain I am right, I offer to bet a case of beer on the issue at hand. I had never lost one of these bets -- until I recently lost a bet to Bill. I remembered that bet as I walked out of the grocery store today, and went back in to get the case of Corona which now rests in the back of my car, waiting for tonight's encounter with Bill.

I was a bit surprised by Bill's reaction when I touted Telegraph Avenue to him. In a move reminiscent of the sheriff in Blazing Saddles, he whipped out his new iPhone and went to the reviews on Amazon. Telling me that he found the top reviews less reliable than those farther down the list, he plucked out and read several reviews from readers who disliked the book enough to abandon it before completion, and challenged me to rebut them.

My first internal reaction to this challenge was to think that perhaps I was wrong about this book being good, perhaps I enjoyed the author's feats of strength while neglecting to consider the book as a whole. Like a deer in a spotlight, I stammered out my thoughts about how well written it was, but I got the impression that my arguments were not convincing to my audience.

This came to mind again today after last night's Presidential debate. This country seems to be divided just about in half, with each side thinking that those who disagree are perhaps not competent to manage their own affairs. Many are incapable of even considering a position other than the one they have already reached. I admired a friend's post on Facebook today, stating that he reaffirmed his pledge to refrain from writing about politics on Facebook. So many of the political statements on Facebook and elsewhere are toxic rants.

So, I wonder what it would have taken to rebut the negative book reviews to Bill? What would it take to respond to political statements where all the units are set to "Send" but not to "Receive" ?