Sunday, December 20, 2009

Congratulations To Chris Barton

Chris Barton's book The Day-Glo Brothers was just reviewed in The New York Times. The review is part of one of those round-up columns that covers three books at once, but Day-Glo received plenty of attention. The kind of attention you want your book to get from The New York Times, too.

I think this review, Alarmingly Bright Futures by Rich Cohen, illustrates what's so great about traditional analytical reviews. Cohen says of the books he's discussing, "Each follows the reliable three-act structure of Horatio Alger or “Rocky”: the early breakthrough, the reversal, the triumph." Read and learn--that's what I did with this kind of review when I was a young writer.

1 comment:

Chris Barton said...

Thanks, Gail! I'm admittedly biased toward the opinions expressed in that particular review, but it was really well-written, wasn't it? It's made me eager to read reviewer Rich Cohen's own Sweet and Low.