Second-Tier "Pulps"

I haven't checked in on Sacha Zimmerman's "Pulps" column for The New Republic in a couple months, but Sarah Weinman happened to mention that her latest takes on the new Helen Fielding, and Sarah was so unenthused by the article I thought I'd see what was up. And I'm a bit underwhelmed as well, just like the last time.

First of all, I'm mildly curious as to why a column devoted to "what America is really reading" would focus on a book that hasn't cracked the NYT top ten list for hardcover fiction and isn't even one of Amazon's 500 bestselling titles. Not that nobody is reading Olivia Joules and the Overactive Imagination, but it hardly seems like a barnbuster yet. Zimmerman, on the other hand, likes it a lot, and readily bashes the rest of chick lit in an effort to single Fielding's heroine out from the "thin, attractive label whore[s] working in fashion, p.r., or magazines." Which just goes to show Zimmerman hasn't read any Caren Lissner yet.