Dear Isabel Allende…

Update, February 10, 2014: I've just changed the first sentence of the post below, because I was informed--and rightly so--that a word I used could (easily) be construed as racist. I should have been (much) more careful about my word choice. I would have objected to Ms. Allende's statements just as strongly if she were a caucasian male.

by Erin Mitchell

I was going to title this post, “Why Being a Nasty Jerk to Readers is Not Good Marketing.” But that seems a little too long. Still, it’s true.

Yesterday on All Things Considered NPR did an interview with the author Isabel Allende. You can listen to it here. Go ahead; I’ll wait.

Ms. Allende’s new book, RIPPER, is some kind of thriller, which is a departure from her usual magical-realism-literary-fiction. Now that you’ve heard the interview, you know that she has what can only be described as disdain for crime fiction and those of us who read it.

I’m angry about this interview as a reader and a marketeer for a bunch of reasons. Among them:

“I’m not a fan of mysteries,” says Ms. Allende. What a shock. Perhaps that’s because your mind is too small, your world too narrow, to appreciate the genre.

Ms. Allende is “surrounded by young people” and her book hinges on the “online world,” and yet she doesn’t participate in anything online (she has a Twitter account she doesn't use). But she claims to be keen on accurate research. I’m sure someone with Ms. Allende’s enormous brain can figure out what’s wrong with this picture.

Ms. Allende attended a writers workshop at Book Passage, and this made her an expert. So much so that she was on the faculty of that conference last year, speaking about…herself.

I was gratified to learn that Ms. Allende’s book is, in a word, crap. Reviewers I trust, including Oline Cogdill and Jenn Lawrence read it, so I don’t have to.

Ms. Allende seems to think that using a teenage nerd as detective and setting a thriller in San Francisco are somehow innovative. She would think this since she doesn’t read the genre, save a couple of Steig Larsson and Jo Nesbo tomes. Had she bothered to do any, um, research, she would have known this is nothing new.

Look, if Ms. Allende wants to sneer down her nose from her stepstool at the rest of us, that’s her prerogative. But this interview insulted a lot of people, many of whom are influential when it comes to recommending books. I first heard about it from McKenna Jordan of Murder by the Book, who was so put out by Ms. Allende’s attitude that she has returned the store’s order of RIPPER, thereby saving the many readers who depend on her store for recommendations from it.

Is crime fiction formulaic? Yeah, some of it is. Is it violent, funny, beautiful, and insightful? Yep.

That All Things Considered gave Ms. Allende airtime is deeply disappointing to me. Yes, the show as a whole can at times revel in its pretentiousness, but the list of authors who would have contributed something to the general discourse is long…and Ms. Allende isn’t on it. I hope their producers consider (see what I did there?) their choices a bit more carefully in future.

Perhaps Ms. Allende’s agent should change her tack, as her attitudes are most obviously far past their sell-by date. Her snotty elitism has no place in the reading universe.

Comments

[Clair]

I don't understand why anyone would spend a year of her life on something she despises. What a weird, sad thing. And yet, because she's Isabel Allende, NPR and Marilyn Stasio are treating this exercise with respect. Baffling.

[Sarah Weinman]

Honestly, Oline was too kind in her review.

For what it's worth, I was originally going to review this for a publication I won't name, but decided not to when I realized that saying "the book is utter crap" would take all of five words and there were another 895 to go.

But since I did read the book, among the most jarring things about it is the excessive self-promotion for Allende's husband's work. I lost count how many mentions there were of "the incredible private detective novels by William C. Gordon" or some variation. Sly winks to friends are one thing but come on, this was just over the top.

[Erin Mitchell]

Oh, that's just sad. And not surprising, somehow. I had to look up William Gordon just in case he was an author I really should have been aware of and had somehow missed. Then I was annoyed with myself for wasting the time it took to glance at his website.

[Erin Mitchell]

Someone suggested on Facebook yesterday that perhaps she didn't write it at all. Which I both hope is true and hope is not.

[Sarah Weinman]

No, I think she did, but it is always interesting when a book needs two translators, not just one.

And I did go down the William Gordon rabbit hole b/c I wondered if I should have heard of him! But from what I can tell, my initial ignorance was justified.

[Jeff Cohen]

Scary that a woman with that much contempt for the genre and the form is married to a man who practices it. I hope my wife has a little more respect for what I do.

[Shirley Wetzel]

McKenna Jordan, the lovely and brilliant owner of Murder by the Book, wisely decided to return the books, saving shelf space for books that are worth reading, by authors who don't disdain the genre

[Ayoola]

Thank you for ensuring that I do not waste my time reading this book. I have others to read that are no doubt much better than Ms Allende's to occupy my time.

[Erin Mitchell]

Completely agree. I've met so many people who depend on MBTB's recommendations, and I'm so grateful that they take this responsibility so seriously!

[Sara J. Henry]

When I read the printed parts of the interview I wasn't particularly offended - but when I listened to it, I understood why it made one crime writer's wife shout at the radio. Tone was really crucial here ...

[Erin Mitchell]

Absolutely. Also, the printed text isn't complete, so I think some of the context is missing. I was only slightly annoyed until I actually listened to the audio.

[Sara J. Henry]

And I do try to give authors leeway, having known more than one hard-working and lovely author who comes across unintentionally as disdainful. But this was sort of a triple whammy, listened to as a whole.

[Patrick Balester]

Oline Cogdill's review, with it's clever title, says it all. And Sarah Weinman's comments made me laugh. This has been a pretty good day!

[Maggie Pill]

Having read almost all of one of this woman's "literary" novels, I can pass on her attempt at mystery. When there isn't a single character I can relate to, like, or even believe, a book has no interest for me, no matter how overly descriptive the prose is.