An Open Letter to a Pulitzer-Prize Winner

Dear Geraldine Brooks,

I have been a fan of your writing for some time. I loved March and Year of Wonders: A Novel of the Plague, novels that were detailed, compelling, and utterly readable. So I really needed your latest effort, People of the Book, to be equally enthralling.

Unfortunately, it's not. You see, I currently have a few days off from real life, and wanted to be swept up in a book in a way that would get me out of study mode and back to reading for the pure joy of it, one of my favorite things to do before I went back to school (and something that Prof K warned us we'd never be able to do again after LitCrit).

One of the problems with POTB is that your writing is so self-conscious. You have obviously done a ton of research and were bound and determined to include all of it in the novel. Evidently no detail was too insignificant for inclusion. It reminds me a bit of when, in high school, we would have to write facts on index cards and then arrange them in order before writing a research paper. You must have had 4,938 cards and didn't wante to waste one little factoid. Frankly, it's exhausting (if I'm being honest with myself, I must admit I noticed this tendency in your first novels and chose to ignore it). Also, you're not always so subtle about sneaking those little nuggets of info into the storyline. Humans don't actually speak the way you have them speaking:

"Oh, look, a butterfly! A butterfly that resides only in the Alpine areas of Europe and grazes in the lupine valleys of the region, its veiny wings similar to this wing I see stuck in the binding of this haggadah, a haggadah being an ancient Jewish manuscript, though this one is unusually illuminated, with its bright cerulean blues and vivid vermilions. Would you like some coffee, or kaffee, its rich cardamom scent reminding you of the old Turkish Arabic style of drinking the thick black aromatic brew?" (not really an excerpt, duh)

Okay, so perhaps I exaggerate a bit. But I'm on page 119, and I spent the first hundred kind of annoyed (and I really have given you the benefit of the doubt; I read those first hundred pages last fall and had to put the book down to study. You're really lucky I picked it up again). The story has finally grabbed me, and I'll continue. But please, pull it together before the next novel. I can put you in touch with Prof K if you need some help; she's good at cutting through the crap.