My history with James Michener has been hit or miss. Some of his other books seemed overly long, filled with too much description, shallow characters, or even shallower storylines. From some I gleaned knowledge of people, places, and things that I had known little of previously. However, The Novel struck a chord. Perhaps because I lived in Pennsylvania briefly I felt connected to the characters and setting or maybe The Novel was the right book at the right time. Whatever the reason, I enjoyed this book. I was reluctant to put it down and eager to resume reading it again when each opportunity presented itself. I was able to imagine the characters clearly. Michener provided a backstory for the characters that fleshed them out and made them three-dimensional. I could envision the lovely backdrop of the Pennsylvania Dutch country, from the rolling hills to the derelict farms. But there is more to the story than the Pennsylvania Dutch and their agrarian surroundings. The reader is immersed in the inner workings of a major publishing house, how book editors ply their trade, conflicts among authors, and how the established order of things often must make way for a new view point, a different approach.The weakest portion of the story is the (view spoiler)[ murder, at the end of the book, of one of the main characters by a minor character. It seems poorly thought out by Michener and just quickly slapped together. While greed is the motivation for the act, there is little to suggest a connection between the murderer and the victim other than proximity and the knowledge that the victim is wealthy. Does the murderer expect that the victim keeps banded bundles of cash scattered about his home, there for the taking? Very strange. (hide spoiler)]
Initial thoughts as I started the book:Really great, fun. This novel is broken into four sections: the lives of the novelist Lukas Yoder, his editor, a critic, and a reader. It's always good to read a book about writing and publishing, just for the sake of rethinking my own habits and the the aspects of the trade that I think are most important.Having finished, I'm a little disappointed in how didactic the book became, sort of Ayn Randian in its argumentative structure -- setting up one camp against experimental writing and another, slightly more daffy and self-involved camp who expounded the genre's virtue, and through their faults suggested the superiority of traditional storytelling -- though Michener (1) wrote with a complex (albeit imprecise) understanding of experimentalism, and (2) treated both camps with humanity. My favorite sections were the ones that recounted incidents that happened in previous sections, each time from the point of view of the new narrator. This in itself comes out of an important experimental tenet: the primacy of individualism and subjective dialogue in determining the actuality of an event. To put it in terms of the story, the way we understand the circumstances of Yoder's publication is clearly outlined by Yoder in his own section, but when it's told in details specific to his editor's experience, our understanding is enriched. In Michener's pen this technique doesn't bear itself out with the experimental trimmings, of course, but it seems he worked this way intentionally. At one point in the final section Yoder determines to start a work in the new style (but, he capitulates, one that is built around a compelling story), and it seems Michener set out with the same goal.
What do You think about The Novel (1992)?
The "ABCs" of this book with characters, settings, and significant key terms:A Applebutter, Amish, AtreusB Benno Rattner, Ms. Benelli, the librarianC The Critic, Professor CaterD Dresden, F.X.M. DevlanE Emma Yoder, The Editor, Empty CisternF Fenstermachers, farmland, fraktursG Mrs. Garland, Greece, GermanyH hexes, HermanI Israeli filmmaker, "Imperative of the Now"J Uncle Judah, Jenny SorkinK Karl Streibert, Kinetic Publishing, KastleL Lukas Yoder, lecturesM Mennonites, Mecklenberg College, Mount
—blmagm
There is a lot of story in these 400+ pages, and although I am supportive of using different storytellers throughout one book there was just way too much detail for me. I found the blurb on the dust jacket deceiving as it suggests a brutal crime links the four narrators, which is true but does not occur until nearly the end of the book. Although I liked aspects of Michener's writing style, this book felt never-ending, and I will not pursue his other works.
—Acj
Four novellas - The Writer; The Editor; The Critic and the ReaderThe Writer - I give this two Stars ... The writer, a Pennsylvania Dutch, writes about the German settlers (Amish & Mennonites). He pens several novels on this subject but it takes an editor that believes in his skills as a writer to encourage him to continue writing after several failures. The Editor - I give this two Stars ... follows a young woman with little education into the publishing business. She becomes a first rate editor who mentors writers in sharpening up their first drafts. Most of this chapter involved her romance with a would be author.The Critic - I give this three Stars ... An young, exceptionally bright Mennonite student of literature, is groomed by a well known and established Critic to follow his love for literature and become a critic. However the student, who becomes a very successful Professor, is his own enemy when he gives unfavorable reviews to an author's works out of envy and jealousy after his own novel fails.The Reader - The final novella ties the Novel together. A surprise plot connects all of the characters. I give the Reader three stars.
—Patricia Johnson
