Comments on: Careful! – a book review

By: Cormac McCarthy's Apocalypse | John Baker's Blog

Cormac McCarthy's Apocalypse | John Baker's Blog — Fri, 27 Jun 2008 08:16:29 +0000

[...] Richard Madelin sent me the link to this interview with Cormac McCarthy, from Rolling Stone, as reproduced on David [...]

By: Robin Slick

Robin Slick — Thu, 09 Nov 2006 13:06:23 +0000

You’re very wise.

Truth be known, I’ve been disappointed in most celebrities I’ve met, though of course that could be my own discomfort as well. This is why I prefer communication via the internet these days as opposed to real world meetings…and I suspect I’ll be needing a twelve step program for that eventually, huh.

jb says: I’m only very wise occasionally, and then it’s a short-lived experience, evaporating well before I have chance to savour it. Celebrity can only be maintained at the expense of identity, I suppose, which is what leads to feelings of disappointment when we come face to face with it. The ego senses a hollowness behind the mask and begins to howl.

As for the twelve-step programme, I can’t see you needing that at all. We’ll keep it for those who get drunk on celebrity.

By: Robin Slick

Robin Slick — Thu, 02 Nov 2006 11:20:15 +0000

Ha! I manage to know everyone I want to know, that’s for sure…or I find a way to meet them. Alas I never met John Lennon or JD Salinger, both of whom have had a profound effect/influence on my life.

But yeah, when it comes to authors, musicians, etc….you could say I’m “with the band”.

Anyone you’d like to meet, John? I’ll see if I can set it up.

xo
Rob

jb says: I feel like I’ve already missed the boat on this one. People who come to mind immediately, like say, Faulkner or Janis Joplin have already moved into different spaces. And then I wonder if I would have really enjoyed meeting them anyway. It was what they did, their achievements, rather than the people themselves who made their mark on me. And I have a profound distrust and dislike of celebrity culture. If I’m going to spend time with someone I need to know that I’m meeting someone; I don’t want to spend time with a myth. So maybe, like you, I make sure that I meet the people I want to know, and either I’ve already done it or am in the process of doing it.

But thanks for the offer. I don’t want to seem ungrateful . . .

By: Robin Slick

Robin Slick — Tue, 24 Oct 2006 18:46:05 +0000

What a small world, John. Richard and I are friends and of course I have read Careful!…your review is quite wonderful and accurate.

So getting back to my original statement: Is the world really that small? Holy cow…

jb says: Hi Robin, Yeah, the world is really really small. Who else do you know?

By: Richard Madelin

Richard Madelin — Tue, 24 Oct 2006 11:49:21 +0000

Thank you, John, for your comments about Careful! It’s a long, lonely road for writers and receiving a sensitive reading like this is such a boost.
I’ve had good reviews but some people find interior monologues difficult to take. I even had a film editor friend tell me that it was cheating.
William Faulkner is as good as it gets and if it’s all right for him, it’s all right for me.

jb says: Hi Richard, Good to see you here. It’s a hard time for most writers at the moment, especially that subtle little trick of turning great reviews into sales. I don’t think that interior monologues, or in fact any kind of textual technique, is hard to take. It’s the way that you do it that makes the difference. No one complains about Elmore Leonard’s interior monologues.

In your case, there was no cheating involved . . . just a good read.

And where would we be without William Faulkner, eh?