How I Became a Famous Novelist by Steve Hely
A note-perfect satire on why writers write, publishers publish and readers are damned.
Brilliant.. How I Became a Famous Novelist is a cheeky book and a brave one, all but naming real-life literary emperors sans clothes... I was sold and sold again... [by Hely's] subtle zingers... The cynicism is delicious, the humor never broad, with just enough modesty and conscience seeping into the story to make our con artist lovable... I may have read a funnier book in the last twenty years, but at this moment I'm hard-pressed to name it. -- Elinor Lipman * Washington Post *
A gleeful skewering of the publishing industry and every cliché of the writing life. * New York Times Book Review *
A hilarious send-up of literary pretensions and celebrity culture. * USA Today *
Steve Hely needed to know how to write very well in order to write as miserably as he does in How I Became a Famous Novelist. In a satirical novel that is a gag-packed assault on fictitious best-selling fiction, Mr. Hely... takes aim at genre after genre and manages to savage them all. Without really straining credulity, [his] travels through the world of publishing become exuberantly farflung. Mr. Hely has deftly clobbered the popular-book business, [taking] aim at lucrative 'tidy candy-packaged novels you wrapped up and gave as presents,' the kinds of books that go 'from store shelves to home shelves to used-book sales unread.' His complaints about such books are very funny. They'd be even funnier if they weren't true. * New York Times *
How I Became a Famous Novelist has a laugh-out-loud quotient inappropriately high for reading in public. * St. Louis Post-Dispatch *
Hely's story offers a pitch-perfect takeoff on the insipid conventions of the best-seller racks and combines the expected caustic wit with an unexpected depth of emotional insight. * Austin American-Statesman *
I doubt I'll read a funnier book this year. * Scotland on Sunday *
Clever. * TheBookbag.co.uk *
I found myself almost crying with laughter. Should be read by anyone with a passing interest in the state of modern literature. * Independent on Sunday *
Wincingly funny. * Daily Mail *
A superb expose of the book world. * Big Issue *
Very entertaining. * Independent *
The humour is so thick and fast and brimming with punchy, unforgettable one-liners. * Booktrust *
A gleeful skewering of the publishing industry and every cliché of the writing life. * New York Times Book Review *
A hilarious send-up of literary pretensions and celebrity culture. * USA Today *
Steve Hely needed to know how to write very well in order to write as miserably as he does in How I Became a Famous Novelist. In a satirical novel that is a gag-packed assault on fictitious best-selling fiction, Mr. Hely... takes aim at genre after genre and manages to savage them all. Without really straining credulity, [his] travels through the world of publishing become exuberantly farflung. Mr. Hely has deftly clobbered the popular-book business, [taking] aim at lucrative 'tidy candy-packaged novels you wrapped up and gave as presents,' the kinds of books that go 'from store shelves to home shelves to used-book sales unread.' His complaints about such books are very funny. They'd be even funnier if they weren't true. * New York Times *
How I Became a Famous Novelist has a laugh-out-loud quotient inappropriately high for reading in public. * St. Louis Post-Dispatch *
Hely's story offers a pitch-perfect takeoff on the insipid conventions of the best-seller racks and combines the expected caustic wit with an unexpected depth of emotional insight. * Austin American-Statesman *
I doubt I'll read a funnier book this year. * Scotland on Sunday *
Clever. * TheBookbag.co.uk *
I found myself almost crying with laughter. Should be read by anyone with a passing interest in the state of modern literature. * Independent on Sunday *
Wincingly funny. * Daily Mail *
A superb expose of the book world. * Big Issue *
Very entertaining. * Independent *
The humour is so thick and fast and brimming with punchy, unforgettable one-liners. * Booktrust *
Steve Hely was a writer for The Late Show with David Letterman and the acclaimed animated comedy American Dad. He is also coauthor of the comic travelogue The Ridiculous Race.
| SKU | Unavailable |
| ISBN 13 | 9781849015721 |
| ISBN 10 | 1849015724 |
| Title | How I Became a Famous Novelist |
| Author | Steve Hely |
| Condition | Unavailable |
| Binding Type | Paperback |
| Publisher | Little, Brown Book Group |
| Year published | 2011-03-24 |
| Number of pages | 320 |
| Cover note | Book picture is for illustrative purposes only, actual binding, cover or edition may vary. |
| Note | Unavailable |