Hey, wanna feel smart and be the kind of person who can finish a book in two days? Then allow me to introduce you to... The Novella. Half the length of a novel but nobody has to know that when you brag about having finished one on a cross-country flight. Of course, I'm giving away my secret now. I could have let you think it was a 600-pager I pounded through in these past two days. But I could never lie to you. Also, this really isn't a book worth bragging about. The Magic Christian concerns itself with the misadventures of Guy Grand, a billionaire whose predominant concern is discovering how low people will stoop for money. Spoiler Alert: Really low. It was a funny enough distraction and certainly not untrue, but too mean spirited to be really engaging and it never dipped below the surface. Such is the problem of the novella. There is only so much you can do in 144 pages. Unless you're Steve Martin.
Wednesday, August 5, 2009
The Novella: Literature's Ego Booster
Hey, wanna feel smart and be the kind of person who can finish a book in two days? Then allow me to introduce you to... The Novella. Half the length of a novel but nobody has to know that when you brag about having finished one on a cross-country flight. Of course, I'm giving away my secret now. I could have let you think it was a 600-pager I pounded through in these past two days. But I could never lie to you. Also, this really isn't a book worth bragging about. The Magic Christian concerns itself with the misadventures of Guy Grand, a billionaire whose predominant concern is discovering how low people will stoop for money. Spoiler Alert: Really low. It was a funny enough distraction and certainly not untrue, but too mean spirited to be really engaging and it never dipped below the surface. Such is the problem of the novella. There is only so much you can do in 144 pages. Unless you're Steve Martin.
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