(no subject)

[rm]

I really must get around to making a post about this ongoing saga:
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/05/02/books/02auth.html

It's gotten deeply under my skin for all sorts of reasons beyond the obvious. Mostly to do with the packaging and marketing of authors, youth and books about nothing in particular, but also to do with the fact that everyone is some degree of thief, some are just graceless.

Comments

[melebeth]

Is it just me, or do most of the similarities in this article seem to be pushing it? A scar on his hand - not uncommon. "Eyes so dark they're almost black" I've read more times than I can count. Yes, clearly she's been a bad girl, but some of this just seems like her critics trying way too hard.

[rm.livejournal.com]

I agree, and that's part of what I have to rant about. On one hand, I'm getting a lot of schadenfreud out of this, that I'm not terribly proud of. And I'm glad it's hopefully putting a dent in the packing of books before they are even written (and the really odd lengths teen overachievement has come to -- I'm all for ambition, to a fault, but I dislike it as a shortcut to respectibility -- I have to find a way to make that clearer later.), but seriously. Had I my way, I think far too many of my characters would have such terribly dark eyes. On the other hand, the profusion of small thefts in this is utterly out of control.

[magnetgirl.livejournal.com]

This second round of allegations seem silly-that my little pony sweatshirt to donna karan knock-off comparison? That's ridiculous.

The first round of quotations from sloppy firsts are...well, disturbing. Why, I ask, is everyone so shocked? So some Ivy-League brat isn't all she's cracked up to be. What a shocker. Why is this front page news?

[poodah.livejournal.com]

I have to admit, the part that bums me out the most is that a great opportunity to write about being Asian-Indian in America was completely blown. It's not like there are that many books about the culture wars of being a teen and being Indian, and this chic blew it. I suppose I could be disappointed by so many other aspects of this situation, but that's the one that screams at me the most. Silly, huh?

[rm.livejournal.com]

I don't think it's silly at all. I think race totally complicates this situation on every possible side of the issue, generally because race tends to complicate everything in America whether we admit it or not.

[kalichan.livejournal.com]

What exactly do you mean about the lack of books on the culture wars faced by Indian-American teenagers? Due to the increasing popularity of good movies like Bend It Like Beckham, Monsoon Wedding...even Moulin Rouge, and cringingly bad ones like Bride and Prejudice or even Vanity Fair, being Indian & American has never been more 'trendy' - and thus the rising tide of occasionally pleasing (though sometimes nauseatingly badly written) chicklit and YA lit, not to mention more mainstream novels, on this subject has been fairly overwhelming.

Here's a list, just off the top of my head, of some novels and short story collections that fit the profile - some excellent, some decent, some terrible, but all part of this growing interest (starred ones are books that I actually liked):

*The Namesake by Jhumpa Lahiri (http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0618485228/qid=1146679227/sr=2-1/ref=pd_bbs_b_2_1/102-9726633-8106526?s=books&v=glance&n=283155)

*Born Confused, by Tanuja Desai Hidier (http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0439510112/sr=8-1/qid=1146616379/ref=sr_1_1/102-9726633-8106526?%5Fencoding=UTF8)

*Brick Lane by Monica Ali (http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0743243315/qid=1146679530/sr=2-2/ref=pd_bbs_b_2_2/102-9726633-8106526?s=books&v=glance&n=283155)

*Arranged Marriage by Chitra Bannerjee Divakarumi (http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0385483503/qid=1146679620/sr=2-1/ref=pd_bbs_b_2_1/102-9726633-8106526?s=books&v=glance&n=283155)

Goddess for Hire by Sonia Singh (http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/006059036X/ref=cm_lm_fullview_prod_2/102-9726633-8106526?%5Fencoding=UTF8&v=glance&n=283155)

A Group of One by Rachna Gilmore (http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0805064753/ref=cm_bg_d/102-9726633-8106526?v=glance&n=283155)

Love, Stars and all that by Kirin Narayan (http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0671793969/sr=8-1/qid=1146679919/ref=sr_1_1/102-9726633-8106526?%5Fencoding=UTF8)

Serving Crazy with Curry by Amulya Malladi (http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0345466128/ref=pd_cpt_gw_1/102-9726633-8106526?%5Fencoding=UTF8&v=glance&n=283155)

The Not So Star Spangled Life of Sunita Sen by Mitali Perkins (http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0316734535/sr=8-2/qid=1146680495/ref=pd_bbs_2/102-9726633-8106526?%5Fencoding=UTF8)

...this list could go on and on. I think it's obvious that a lot of people are writing about being young, South Asian & American at the same time. What troubles me is that because of this trendyness, people are writing about it in great numbers and badly to boot. And now they're apparently plagiarizing as well - just so they can fit this market niche.

And I worry a little about being marginalized as another member of this fad when the day comes that I want to publish my novel...though it likely won't be "identity based" and certainly not this incredibly repetitive drivel that so many seem to be churning out by the Air-India aeroplane load.