Tuesday, March 28, 2006

Jay McInerney Sells Only 15,000 Copies

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(image via NYSocialdiary)

We were rather surprised to hear that Jay McInerney's "The Good Life," his best book ever, is doing so poorly. The first well executed post-September 11th novel deserves a better fate. According to 411:

"Jay McInerney once had the world on a string with the original paperback novel, 'Bright Lights, Big City.' But that was more than 22 years ago.

"McInerney got a lot of ink � and presumably a nice advance � for his latest, 'The Good Life.' Alas, Bookscan reports the tepidly reviewed novel has sold just 15,000 copies. Publisher Alfred A. Knopf can�t be too happy with all that fiction ready to be pulped. Get the remainder tables ready. Luckily, McInerney has his wine column to fall back on�"

(A considerable pause) We know that Jay McInerney wants to be perceived as a connoisseur, but McInerney's wine writing reminds The Corsair of a bad Hungarian wine: watery and lacking in body and depth. (Exaggerated cough suggesting feigned detachment) We'd prefer it if The Jayster kept feeding us his wonderful novels and left the amateur wine slurping to other, more capable scribblers.

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