How I Became a Famous Novelist by Steve Hely

How I Became a Famous Novelist by Steve Hely

This story of a slacker who sets out to take the book-publishing world by storm is "a hilarious send-up of literary pretensions and celebrity culture." (USA Today).

Pete Tarslaw wants some fame and fortune and, perhaps most importantly, the chance to get back at his ex-girlfriend at her upcoming wedding. After listening to a vapid author prattling on during an interview, while nubile young women watch adoringly, he figures becoming a literary icon must be the easiest con game going . . .

This "gleeful skewering of the publishing industry and every cliché of the writing life" pinballs from the college town of Boston to the fear-drenched halls of Manhattan's publishing houses, from the gloomy purity of Montana's foremost writing workshop to the hedonistic hotel bars of the Sunset Strip (The New York Times Book Review). The tale of how Pete's "pile of garbage" titled The Tornado Ashes Club became the most talked about, blogged about, admired, and reviled novel in America will change everything you think you know about literature, truth, beauty, and those people out there who actually still care about books.

"Nothing is sacred and all is skewered: critics, Hollywood, MFA programs, students, literary journals, panels, conferences and resulting hook-ups . . . I rooted for Pete, a scheming underachiever whom the late great humorist Max Shulman would have been proud to call his own. I may have read a funnier book in the last 20 years, but at this moment I'm hard-pressed to name it." --Elinor Lipman, The Washington Post

"A pitch-perfect takeoff on the insipid conventions of the best-seller racks . . . caustic wit with an unexpected depth of emotional insight." --Austin American-Statesman

"How I Became a Famous Novelist has a laugh-out-loud quotient inappropriately high for reading in public." --St. Louis Post-Dispatch

Steve Hely was a writer for 30 Rock, Late Show with David Letterman and the acclaimed animated comedy American Dad! He also wrote the Thurber-winning novel How I Became a Famous Novelist, and coauthored the comic travelogue The Ridiculous Race. He's cohost of The Great Debates podcast.

SKU	Unavailable
ISBN 13	9780802170606
ISBN 10	0802170609
Title	How I Became a Famous Novelist
Author	Steve Hely
Condition	Unavailable
Binding Type	Paperback
Publisher	Grove Press / Atlantic Monthly Press
Year published	2009-07-08
Number of pages	224
Prizes	Winner of Thurber Prize for American Humor 2010
Cover note	Book picture is for illustrative purposes only, actual binding, cover or edition may vary.