Last week, before the latest batch of book donations starting coming in, I found it difficult to choose something to read. I’d sampled almost all of the authors whose works I had on hand. Isabel Wolff was an exception. I have a copy of Making Minty Malone, which I’d assumed was romance or chick-lit. The jacket was missing, so I was in the dark about its content. I dreaded starting it and told myself I could always put it aside if I didn’t like it, which is not easy for someone who feels compelled to finish what he starts. I was impressed immediately. The prose is as good as I’ve ever read, the dialogue is natural and witty, and the characters are realistic. The novel is a year long first person account of a woman just shy of 30 who experiences a public humiliation. She is described as “so nice” by others, especially her colleagues at the London radio station where she is employed. Her thoughts are on display throughout the narrative. It is handled expertly, never confusing, and there aren’t as many puzzling usages of terms as there usually are in works from across the pond. Wolff, a Londoner herself, describes her work as romantic fiction that focuses on self deception. It is lighthearted even in its instances of unpleasantness. She worked as a producer and reporter at the BBC and traveled worldwide. She also wrote free lance articles about a fictional young woman, which eventually led to a publishing contract. MMM is her second novel. Her books have been published in 29 languages. Although I prefer meatier content, I was enthralled and rooting for the heroine. On a scale of five, three-and-three-quarters. The writing is just so damn good, “like butter,” as Linda Richman/Michael Myers used to say on the hilarious Coffee Talk sketches on Saturday Night Live.
I check my books stats every Saturday morning. I hadn’t had a web sale in about a month, so it was a nice boost to my morale when I discovered someone had purchased the Kindle version of Killing. It’s only a drop in the bucket, but it gives temporary hope -- delusion -- that it is the beginning of the gold rush. My spirits were bolstered even further during today's session of the floating book shop, despite the cold, windy weather and occasional snow flurries. I sold eight used books and had a visit from Bill Brown, whose book of articles on the 80's music scene I'd recently purchased at Amazon. He'd just finished reading Killing. He enjoyed the natural dialogue and the way the theme was corroborated throughout the novel. He pinpointed the character who was most like me and was impressed that it wasn't the main character. His criticisms were valid. The entire narrative is from the protagonist's point of view, and is also linear, traveling from A-Z in a straight line. He would have liked it to have begun with a clip from the climactic chapter and have the novel explain how the character got there and why. Fortunately, this did not deter him from purchasing A Hitch in Twilight. Thank you, sir, and to my other customers.
Visit Vic's sites:
Vic's Third Novel (Print or Kindle): http://tinyurl.com/7e9jty3
Vic's Website: http://members.tripod.com/vic_fortezza/Literature/
Vic's Short Story Collection (Print or Kindle): http://www.tiny.cc/Oycgb
Vic's 2nd Novel: http://tinyurl.com/6b86st6
Vic's 1st Novel: http://tiny.cc/94t5h
Vic's Screenplay on Kindle: http://tinyurl.com/cyckn3
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