e-Book About the Author: A Novel download

by John Colapinto

ISBN: 0060932171
ISBN13: 978-0060932176
Language: English
Publisher: Harper Perennial; Reprint edition (July 23, 2002)
Pages: 272
Category: Genre Fiction
Subategory: Literature

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ePub size: 1153 kb
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Rating: 4.9
Votes: 779
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Only 1 left in stock (more on the way). I wish I'd written this book, because it's fast-paced and clever and one of those good reads you're loath to put down.

Only 1 left in stock (more on the way).

He plays keyboards and sings in the Sequoias, a band made up mostly of New York magazine journalists.

Both of us were broke at the time-Stewart subsisting on a small scholarship, I toiling for minimum wage as a stockboy at Stodard’s Books in Midtown

Both of us were broke at the time-Stewart subsisting on a small scholarship, I toiling for minimum wage as a stockboy at Stodard’s Books in Midtown. And so, with the resourcefulness common to ds in our era of diminished expectations, we devised a way to ensure each other a measure of privacy.

He is also the author of the novel About the Author. He lives in New York City with his wife and son. Библиографические данные. About the Author: A Novel. Harper Collins, 2009.

It was published in August 2001 and was a number 6 pick on the Booksense 76 list of best novels of the season; it was a nominee for the IMPAC literary award and for a number of years was under option by Dreamworks, where playwright Patrick Marber (Closer and Howard Katz) wrote a screen adaptation.

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About the Author book. The novel is a good example of my inverse theory of external and internal characterization: the more vivid the physical description of a character, the less vivid the inner (psychological and emotional) description. Yes, I just invented that, though others have expressed the same idea in different terms.

About the Author's Cal Cunningham calls himself a writer, but he's too busy-or too scared-to sit down and actually write anything.

Just how did Cal Cunningham - a bookstore stockboy who is new to Manhattan and who has never written anything - publish a bestselling novel that sells to the movies for a million dollars? A mysterious roommate, a timely bike accident, and the rapacious literary agent Blackie Yaeger all play a role in Cal's success.

Just how did Cal Cunningham -- a twenty-five-year-old bookstore stockboy who is new to Manhattan and who has never written anything -- publish a bestselling novel that sells to the movies for a million dollars?

A mysterious roommate, a timely bike accident, and the rapacious literary agent Blackie Yaeger all play a role in Cal's success.

Deception, blackmail, and murder all play a role in his desperate bid to hold on to it.

And About the Author is his first-person account of how he performed this remarkable feat.

Comments:

Kabandis

I read John Colapinto's pieces every now and then in The New Yorker where he is a staff writer, and they are always unfailingly good; most recently he did an article on grease - the fortunes that have been made and lost on used cooking oil and grease. It was interesting enough that I Googled the guy and found he had written a novel, this one: ABOUT THE AUTHOR.

It's an enormously compelling, gripping, "the-plot-thickens-and-then-thickens-again" kind of story about lies, literary theft, blackmail and murder." There's a love story of sorts in there too, along with some pretty kinky AC/DC sex scenes, and the book is not without humor. Set in Manhattan and rural Vermont, the book boasts some very interesting characters, particularly Cal Cunningham, the protagonist-narrator, an aspiring and then dishonestly-and-wildly successful young writer. There are constant plot twists which keep you eagerly turning pages. In other words, a very literary chiller-thriller which hooks you early, plays you skillfully, then slowly reels you in, for a most satisfying, if perhaps slightly unbelievable, conclusion. A sly look at what it takes to be successful as a writer in America today, not without some all-too-true digs at the publishing industry. A quick and entertaining read I would not hesitate to recommend. Colapinto is a facile and talented writer.

- Tim Bazzett, author of the memoir, BOOKLOVER

SadLendy

First off, this is a fascinating book. The pace is frantic, the story is "unsettling" (this is a positive context), at the end of this book I sat in awe for what seemed like and eternity..
I found myself unremittingly comparing this novel to Paul Auster's "The Locked Room" and David Czuchlewski's "The Muse Asylum", both of which I highly reccomend, which shine in their own respects. I found the main character, Cal Cunningham, at odds with how I would act in such a situation, which was at times frustrating, but forced me to actually get inside this character and see things through his reality, a literary achievment in its own sense.
The bottom line is that I am not much of a critic, like you couldn't tell, just read it and post what you think

Chinon

The antihero of John Colapinto's first novel feels similar to Patricia Highsmith's devilish Tom Ripley.The novel which is just over two hundred and fifty pages is swift, clever, and darkly funny.Cal Cunnigham a frustrated Manhattan writer through a series of circumstances publishes a literary giant. How this comes to pass, and the events that transpire because of it, makes for a page turning train wreck you can't turn away from. Fans of Scott Smith's "A Simple Plan" or the Ripley stories would probably enjoy this fun quick read, that contains a few twists that take the plot away from the expected thiller contrivances.

Sinredeemer

I wish I'd written this book, because it's fast-paced and clever and one of those good reads you're loath to put down. But unlike the seriously writer's-blocked protagonist of John Colapinto's About the Author, I don't have a manically productive and unexpectedly talented law student rooming with me. But what if I did? And what if said law student turned up dead one day? The author takes this simple premise (*God*, I wish I'd written this) and runs with it. A great read.

Reviewed by Debra Hamel, author of Trying Neaira: The True Story of a Courtesan's Scandalous Life in Ancient Greece

NI_Rak

I finished reading About the Author in less than two days and it is without a doubt one of the best thrillers I've read this year! It had been at the top of my reading list for a while and now I wish I wouldn't have waited so long. You don't want to miss this one! This novel may be classified as "junk food" literature by some of the other reviewers here, but don't let that deter you. About the Author is high in Hitchcockian suspense and John Collapinto knows just what it takes to get your heart racing. If you've read and liked this one, I would also recommend The Secret History by Donna Tartt!

Adaly

I totally loved this book. It was a wild ride to go on, and I could not even imagine what was around each turn.

Fenius

Eh, this left me completely underwhelmed. Mindless braincandy, really. I guess I didn't like Cal enough to forgive him for his sins. It's entertaining, but don't expect it to stick with you once you close the back cover.

I really enjoyed this book. It was well written, fast to read. A lot of suspense and plot twists. Highly recomended.