Thursday, September 04, 2008

Get that chip off your shoulder

I try to keep it positive here at Three's Company because goodness knows there's enough bad news and negativity in the world without little ol' me going on and on about stuff. Want my opinion? Fine! Just ask and I'll give it to you straight. But, once in a great while I'll stumble onto something that I just have to vent an unsolicited opinion on and today that issue is.....


(drum roll).....


CURTIS SITTENFELD


An author who's first book, Prep, a semi-sorta-autobiographical novel about a misfit trying to fit into an elite prep school, should have been a hands-down no brainer all-time favorite of mine. Instead I hated it and it's whiny navel-gazing protagonist who purposely crapped on every opportunity she had and not for one second tried to get anything out of an educational experience that she pursued all on her own. And worse, the writing was self-important, juvenile and BORING. (Did you read the book? Did you hate it too?)

Well, Ms. Sittenfeld, who I'm sure is a very nice person in her own right, has now decided she's qualified to write this:









Though I have not and will not be reading this, from the reviews I gather it is a thinly-veiled attack on (or parody of) Laura Bush, who I doubt has ever heard of Curtis Sittenfeld before this. I think it is tacky in the extreme and a (very poor) example of the not-so-thinly-veiled agenda of many in the media and the arts who are hell-bent on attacking anyone and anything with values, ethics or principles that don't necessarily match up with theirs.

Ok. So what I'm trying to say is don't buy this book. There are many great, wonderful, thrilling, uplifting, engrossing books out there. I'll post a list of them tomorrow. This will not be one of them.

2 comments:

KathleenKMM said...

I read Prep and loved it, actually - thought it was a very realistic portrayal of teenage girls building something up to be wonderful in their minds and being let down at the reality of it. I'm also guessing Laura Bush has heard of Curtis Sittenfeld since Prep was a much-discussed Best Seller and the first lady is a librarian.

Anonymous said...

I thought you might be interested in knowing that bn.com/tagged is currently showing a video interview with Sittenfeld. Might want to check it out... She doesn't seem like she's trying to attack anyone