introducing readers to writers since 1995
October 07, 2004
Frank Discussion
by Ron HoganPulitzer-winning biographer Elizabeth Frank talks to Jennie Yabroff of Newsday about her first novel, Cheat and Charmer, which inspired Michiko Kakutani to get her hate on earlier this week. I've only just started the novel, so I'll wait until next week to say more, but the Kakutani pan strikes me as somewhat lazy in its use of the press kit blurbs as a bludgeon against the author. New York readers who want further opportunity to judge for themselves can catch Frank at her neighborhood bookstore, Three Lives, on October 12.
Frank's book is fantastic. I'm almost done. It's sprawling, melodramatic (in the best sense), gripping and written in a traditional plain style that I don't find flat, but instead a counterpoint to the action. The descriptions of Los Angeles landscape, early in the novel, are not to be missed.
Posted by: dallorlando at October 13, 2004 12:33 AMyour PayPal donation
can contribute towards its ongoing publication.
