How I Became a Famous Novelist

This was a hoot. Having just finished a book that felt like the product of a Writer's Workshop, I was primed to be amused by a skewering of the genre. The narrator sets out to write a best selling work of literary fiction, in the Nicholas Sparks vein. His rise and fall is a spot-on look at the crapshoot of publishing. Funny guy.

This is very light reading about a guy who figures out that many of the authors on the current bestseller lists are just really good con-artists and he wants in. He comes up with some hilarious rules for writing a bestseller and sets off to write a schlocky romance-and-redemption story filled with heinous clichés and such. He also wants to be famous just so he can upstage his ex-girlfriend at her upcoming wedding. But the character's trashing of the bestselling ilk that passes for entertainment these days is the good stuff. It's often quite funny and possibly hits pretty close to home on occasion. This book can be read very quickly and should appeal to the cynic in you. Oh, also: all the blurbs are fake.

For the longest time, before I actually started reading How I Became a Famous Novelist, I mistakenly thought this was a how-to book by some self-righteous writer. Or at least a tongue-in-check satire from some wannabe-writer. I can't be the only person who had this misconception. The truth is even better. It's fiction and one of the funniest books I've read in years.

Pete Tarslaw doesn't lead the most exciting life and has plenty of regrets to show for it. His ex broke up with him years ago and he's never forgiven her. In fact, he desperately wants her back even though she's getting married soon. He spends his workdays employed as a writer, but not in any respectful way as one hopes. Not even close. He ghost writes college essays for show more rich kids trying to get admitted to Ivy League schools. But here's the thing: He's shamefully good at it. Eventually Pete decides that he's had enough of this everyman life and is determined to steer his talents towards becoming a famous novelist instead. Not only will he be able to (a) quit writing altogether, (b) hobnob with celebrities, and (c) own his own island, but most importantly he'll be able to show up at his ex's wedding and rub in her face.

The author, Steve Hely, is a former writer for The David Letterman Show and Last Call with Carson Daly. This is his debut novel. show less

Truly laugh-out-loud funny books are too rare, but this is one of them. I was hooked from the first chapter and by the end of the second chapter I’d picked up a second copy to give to a friend so I could stop messaging her constantly about how funny this book is.

This is a faux memoir about a cynical young writer who decides to write a best selling novel for one main reason: spite. The book is a cynical look at the publishing world mocking best-selling authors, publishers and reviewers. It smartly skewers all of them. It is impossible for me to walk through a bookstore without chuckling thinking about this book.

Healy looks both at common literary devices as well as the calculations that may or may not (but probably do) occur in show more publishing houses, college literature departments as well as the minds of authors. Ironically, you can’t write a book this funny without being well-read and a pretty good writer yourself, which Healy clearly is.

This is a book that should appeal to anyone, but is a must read for any lover of books. Highly recommended. show less

A biting satire of modern literature.
I was a little worried that a novel satirizing modern literature might be a little on the meta side, but How I Became a Famous Novelist is down to earth and veers to keep a wide berth from being self-referential.
The fictional novels clearly give nod to real world counterparts and their titles and descriptions are the funniest part of the book.

For once, reading about a complete self-absorbed, under-productive scumbag is entertaining, rather than tedious. Likely, the insight into his own odious nature helps make the protagonist less tooth-grating.

Funny concept, entertaining execution. When you have a premise that is the point like this, it’s hard to find a decent conclusion. So the ending wasn’t as great as the rest of the book, but overall it was still a lot of snarky fun.

The Set-Up

To impress his former girlfriend at her upcoming wedding, Pete Tarslaw decides to become a famous novelist. Figuring it couldn't be all that hard, he spends an afternoon at a bookstore studying bestselling books. His studies reveal the keys to a successful book:

Rule 1: Abandon truth.
Rule 2: Write a popular book. Do not waste energy making it a good book.
Rule 3: Include nothing from my own life.
Rule 4: Must include a murder.
Rule 5: Must include a club, secrets/mysterious missions, shy characters, characters whose lives are changed suddenly, surprising love affairs, women who've given up on love but turn out to be beautiful.
Rule 6: Evoke confusing sadness at the end.
Rule 7: Prose should be lyrical. (Definition of lyrical: show more "resembling bad poetry.")
Rule 8: Novel must have scenes on highways, making driving seem poetic and magical.
Rule 9: At dull points, include descriptions of delicious meals.
Rule 10: Main character is miraculously liberated from a lousy job.
Rule 11: Include scenes in as many reader-filled towns as possible.
Rule 12: Give readers versions of themselves, infused with extra awesomeness.
Rule 13: Target key demographics.
Rule 14: Involve music.
Rule 15: Must have obscure exotic locations.
Rule 16: Include plant names.

He then churns out The Tornado Ashes Club (click on link for an entire fake website set up to promote this entirely fake book), which eventually becomes a bestseller, leading to Pete's subsequent rise to fame and an eventual showdown with his nemesis, Preston Brooks (another fake author), at a book conference. In the end, Pete realizes the truth about good writing (it can't be manufactured) and the book publishing industry.

My Thoughts

I can't see why anyone who likes to read wouldn't want to check out this hilariously funny, spot-on satire of popular fiction. I was cracking up throughout the book. Mr. Hely's jokes and parodies are spot-on—from the fictional Entertainment Weekly review to excerpts from his "novel" to his skewering of pop author stereotypes. (If Pamela McLaughlin isn't based on Patrica Cornwell, I'll eat an entire pack of Thin Mints by myself.) There are so many good parts that I could do an entire review with just excerpts. But that would probably be illegal in some way so I'll settle with just a few.

Being lazy about research: I had no intention of spending my nights on ride-alongs with homicide cops, or mapping magical empires and populating them with orcs.

On literary fiction: But becoming a professor called for a particular kind of book, a "literary" book. These books can be identified in two ways. One: at the end of a work of literary fiction, you're supposed to feel weirdly sad, and perhaps cry, but not for any clear reason. Two: The word "lyrical" appears on the back cover of literary fiction.

On reviewing his work: That night, after a dinner of leftover salmon, I reviewed the work I'd done. A lot was garbage. There were strange repetitions. The word taciturn was used four times in one sentence. Genevieve was thrice described as robin-throated. The Black Hills were said to "rise from the land like the calluses and corns and warts from God's own foot."

On guessing the plot of Preston Brook's new novel: I played a game of trying to imagine what new heights of sentimentality and emotional prostitution he'd reached: little children going to look for long-lost brothers with hobo satchels over their shoulders. Two orphans falling in love and trying to raise a child the way they'd wished they'd been raised. A veterinarian who travels the country healing the hearts of old worn-out dogs. But my wildest flights of shamelessness could not outdo the Master. Preston Brooks's new book was called The Widows' Breakfast. Amazing, right there. He'd beaten me with the title alone. But the subject was five widows-yes, one of them was black. They meet in 1942, when their husbands are all training to be pilots in World War II. And starting in that year, they have a tradition of getting together for breakfast on the morning after the funeral, anytime one of their husbands dies.

If any of these excerpts or the rules of a successful book excerpt made you smile, I'm here to tell you that there is TONS MORE of this in the book. This is a comedy goldmine (as it should be as Hely is ones of the writers for the very funny sitcom 30 Rock). If you don't read it, you're just missing out on the best satire I've read in ages. Seriously, you need to read this book.

My Recommendation

There is just no way to go wrong with this book! It is laugh-out-loud funny satire of popular fiction and publishing. C'mon, what more could you, as a lover of books, want? Unless you are so reverent about books that you cannot bear to have them made fun of, I think this book would make you laugh. I loved it and recommend it wholeheartedly. Just remember: Take nothing seriously. It is all fake, but there were times when I got totally sucked in because the parodies are just so spot-on. I'm giving it 4.5 stars. I guarantee you'll never look at the best-seller list quite the same way again. And you have to love an author who goes to the trouble of creating a fake web site and fake blog for his fake author's fake book. show less