The Unkindest Cut of All
The reader reviews on Amazon.com for author Stephen Elliott's novel Happy Baby, the unrelenting novel about a boy who grew up in the child welfare system that explores the psychology of abuse, were uniformly good. Except for one:
The book has scenes like the one where he kisses the hand of the man who abused him. Most normal people will find this nauseating. The book is for wanna-be masochists who enjoy perversion, and people with strong stomachs. Perhaps that's who the author sees as his audience? The book has little plot, and seems like one vaguely descriptive scene after another. The reader is left with a bad taste in his or her mouth. I hear the author's father is preparing a website to show that his background is totally fabricated. That will be an interesting blog.The only thing it lacked was a signature -- "Love, Dad." On his web site, Elliott says: "My father, who was an awful and abusive father, is leaving bad reviews of my books on Amazon.com. The most recent one being for Happy Baby, posted under the name Blum732, blum being his last name before he changed it and 732 being the last three digits of his email address."
I will take a moment right now to thank the universe for a family who, even during my most mind-bogglingly stupid moments, were always supportive.
Okay. Now that that's done, back to the finale of Project Runway, because Peter got me hooked on Sunday and I am just not a big enough person to tear myself away and work on my Moonie Times redux. So until tomorrow....
(Photo by Nik, courtesy stock.xchng)
posted by Jane Hamsher @ 2/24/2005 12:00:00 AM
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