Reading group selection ( )

This books follows the loveless marriage of Eddie and Amanda Renfros, the budding relationship between Jackson Miller and Margot Yarborough, daughter of author Andrew Yarborough, and also that of Henry Baffler, the writer that cannot tell a lie. This group struggles to make ends meet financially, romantically and emotionally. Competition is ripe between couples, between friends and all six characters bring new levels of cynicism to the superficial powers that be, those that determine what sells and what doesn’t. Chuck Fadge is hoisted as a symbol of idiocy, and verbal trash, pawning off his limited skill set to future would-be writers. The funny thing, is that while Fadge does not deny who he is, the other set seem to be blindly following the same path Fadge laid down. There is competition and jealousy between friends, between lovers and even between father and daughter. I guess the old adage birds of a feather flock together, rings true in this lover, as writers, it seems, are only friends with other writers, either published or unpublished.

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A mild-mannered updating of New Grub Street using some of the same relationships, but updated to the 21st century. A group of friends follow different paths toward publication and one woos the daughter of a writer, thinking she will help his career. But he really falls for the wife of a friend, who manages to churn books out while her published husband struggles with obscurity. In fact, it presents a far rosier view of the publishing world than the reality, since two of the friends compete for the top spot on the bestseller list, two retire to tenured obscurity in academia (hardly an easy feat these days) and the remaining ultra-realist sells zines while living in a lowly Manhattan apartment. Uh, gee - those are all pretty soft landings!