Rating: 
Summary: Welcome to the real world, Steve. And nice book....
Review: Recovered alcoholics, recovered compulsive gamblers, recovered junkies, and now perhaps recovered compulsive lying journalists - these are the people whose stories are interesting, because something deep within has forced them off the shelf. Their stories are sullied, tattered, worn and made dirty by living. They see life from the level of having lived. They have graduated from a sophomoric, vaguely superior ideal notion of what living ought to be, into a genuine understanding of what it is. They have been around the block. They have learned something about themselves, and by extension, about what it means to be human. They have earned some credentials in life. They are the re-born who've collided head-on with their own jagged bottom and have navigated the long, hard road back to a better version of themselves. They are among the kindest, most empathetic, most perceptive of human beings because they no longer need to pretend they are anything else. They are rarely narrow-minded. They are seldom judgmental. They no longer need to project a false superiority. They do not brutally and cynically reduce the world to a tabloid, and mercilessly crucify those who do not, like themselves, pretend a pristine, sanitized existence. These are the real people. They have the footings to be the kind of journalist that Glass writes about on pages 198-200. They are the kind of people (provided they have mastered their demons) that I want to tell me about the real world, because they're a part of it. They've been through a bit of reality, and are therefore prepared to write truthfully about it. They have earned the depths to deliver something more than the polished, cynical, sensationalist, rumor-mongered version of life that "journalism" so often describes to us now.
Congratulations to Steve Glass for being on the path to join their ranks. And for writing a decent first novel. [...]
Rating: 
Summary: Terrible First Novel
Review: Set aside for a moment who Steve Glass is and consider the book solely as a novel - not as an act of contrition. What do you have? A poorly plotted and poorly written novel that has one real character - "Glass" - and dozens of poorly characterized other people who pass through the book in order to serve some purpose in relation to "Glass." So we have the suffocating parents who are supposed to show that Glass still can be loved. The ex-gf, who is supposed to show disloyalty. Cliff the reporter, who is supposed to demonstrate the vicious side of reporters. And assorted minor characters who are supposed to demonstrate the "Glass," despite his wrongs, is still superior to everyone else. Glass can carry on an interesting story for 15 pages in Harper's, but he's unable to do it for more than 50, let alone the 350 that make up this disappointing first book. Let's hope there's not another. This book is a waste of [money]. Do not buy it.
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Summary: False lies
Review: Stephen Glass's novel, The Fabulist, is awful. But to begin with a positive, the opening account of how a fictional Stephen Glass is caught fabricating stories at the Washington Weekly is compelling, suspenseful and comical. There is also a chuckle here and there afterward. But there is much, much more wrong with this novel. First, its action rings horribly false. Many of set-piece situations (with women's underwear, in a plane to Chicago, with a woman dressed in purple, at a strip club, during a brief affair, at an animal hospital, among others) are so contrived and unrealistic that it is impossible to be unaware for more than a minute at a stretch during the entire 339 pages that you are reading a novel. Whether any or all of these incidents actually or even partially occurred is of course irrelevant. As written, they are unbelievable even as fiction. A novel is not 'true,' of course, but a good one casts a spell which causes the reader to believe he is experiencing reality, albeit an alternative one. Mario Vargas Llosa has written beautifully and instructionally on this in Letters to a Young Novelist and A Writer's Reality. I would suggest that Glass read them, but with a reported six-figure advance for this monstrosity, why would he? Another way a novel becomes 'real' is with characterizations and descriptions. Glass has little time for this. The characters, including the protagonist, are pita-flat. I couldn't describe the Glass in this book; he simply never emerges from the page into the imagination. Although Sylvia, a love interest, is almost recognizable as a human being (there is a nice descriptive detail about her earlobes), most of the other characters are little more than ciphers. In this, the writer has failed again: The characters in their falsity nag at the reader, reminding him that he is reading a novel ' exactly the wrong effect. Descriptions of place, which in literature inject a reader into a scene and add authenticity, are likewise absent or bare bones. But what is not absent is Glass's self-absorption and apologizing. It overflows. 'I am sorry.' 'I am so sorry.' 'I am so very sorry.' 'You don't know how sorry I am.' Why do I keep reading this? you ask yourself. Glass invented the Washington Weekly stories because he wanted to be loved. The end. This is a novel? I thought novels were supposed to tackle complex issues, or at least entertain. This does neither. This is the Dr. Phil show. The book's tin-eared dialogue is yet another mark of failure. To take just one example, I refer readers to the quote by the fictional Glass on page 327 that begins, 'Can a lizard ...' I challenge anyone to read that paragraph and say it comes across as honest, or even sensible, dialogue. It reeks... And that brings me to my theory. After the real Glass was caught making up stories at the New Republic, he may have thought, 'Since I'm so good at this, I'll write fiction!' Here's the problem: Fiction needs truth, too. Glass's experience at the New Republic may have taught him that liars shouldn't write nonfiction. But what The Fabulist teaches us...
Rating:
Summary: Excellent First Novel
Review: Stephen Glass, former journalist for The New Republic, has written an excellent first novel. Basing it on his own real life drama and antics, Mr. Glass tells a gripping and hysterical story. His creativity once got the better of him, but now he is using it in a productive way by telling his story with much humor. Those who are still bitter about Mr. Glass' lies and fabrications will have trouble putting those emotions aside. If you were never personally affect by Mr. Glass or are not a self-righteous journalist then you should find this to be an enjoyable book. I hesitated giving it five stars for reasons that should be obvious when reading it but they may just be according to my personal tastes. I do not believe that they detracted from the enjoyably good read this novel provided. It remains to be seen whether Mr. Glass' second novel can continue the trend that may be beginning and whether he will truly be acknowledged for the talent he has rather than his failings.
Rating: 
Summary: A Liar's Shame Makes One-Half of a Good Book.
Review: Stephen Glass, the author of "The Fabulist", won fame as a reporter for "The New Republic", a prestigious weekly newsmagazine. Having been a regular reader of "The New Republic" in the 90's, I always looked forward to Glass's articles, which included some of the more colorful and unusual pieces in that publication. One of Glass's works, which described how an intercollegiate meeting of Young Republicans degenerated into an "Animal House" like foray into sex and drugs, was probably the funniest bit of journalism on student politics I've ever read. Too bad it was a pack of lies, along with much of the rest of Glass's ouevre. A serial fantasist, Glass freely mixed fact and fiction and palmed off outrageous whoppers as journalism. After keeping silent for years about his disgrace, Glass has now written his confessional. Appropriately, "The Fabulist" is not a strictly factual account of Glass's life, but instead constitutes a fictionalized autobiography. Glass's story certainly had the potential to make an interesting book. Many fine autobiographies have been written by contrite rogues and criminals. I found "The Fabulist" to be about half of what I was hoping for. Glass begins his book with the story of how he was caught prevaricating and he describes his shame in great detail. There was little or nothing describing Glass's ascent in journalism or his experiences as a writer on "The New Republic." "The Fabulist" feels curiously unbalanced -- there's the middle and end of a story here, but the setup isn't developed. Lacking background detail, "The Fabulist" would most likely be of little interest to those unfamiliar with Glass's story. Apparently, a movie about Glass is set to be released soon, and I'd advise those interested in his life to wait for that.
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Summary: Fabulous
Review: THE FABULIST A NOVEL For Christmas I received this book called, The Fabulist: A Novel simply printed on the book cover in black type on a white background. No glitz and glamour with fancy pictures to get a person to read this book.
I turned to the jacket cover to find out what this book was going to inform me about was it about a woman who recently divorced and finds herself moving to a small town; is it a coming of age story; can it be how to transform yourself into a fabulous woman? It is a story told by Stephen Glass. Does this name ring a bell? He was the journalist who worked for a small newspaper and was on the fast track making more than $100,000 by writing stories and freelance articles for popular magazines until he put a halt to all his success by fabricating stories.
Now this book isn't a How To book which explains in detail how to write a story and submit it to your editor and not be caught because in that case this book wouldn't provide that. Rather it is a "factious" retelling of how he got caught, and the majority of the book tells how being caught not only rocked his present world but also how it affected his future. He grapples with people who he has hurt due to his actions and most importantly he searches his thoughts as to why he did it. What made him make up parts in a story that simply were not true and why didn't he just go out and find an interesting story rather than making one up.
Stephen Glass is not a bad person and in the end hopefully the author realizes that and so does the reader.
Rating:
Summary: Read this book and judge for yourself -- I loved it
Review: The Fabulist is a fantastic novel. You should skip all the nasty comments written by journalists who clearly haven't spent the time reading this throughly enjoyable book. Read it for yourself. If you're like me, you'll find it alternately hilarious, moving, and thought-provoking. A great first novel. I can't wait to read more of the fiction that Glass's imagination dreams up.
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Summary: Tons of Humor Packed In
Review: The Fabulist is absolutely one of the most hysterical books I have read. It was gut grabbing funny. I had my doubts about this novel fearing that it would be too sermony. When I encountered some pre-release date copies at a local bookstore, I picked one up and could not put it down. I expected it to be a sob story, but the author was able to throw in plenty of humor. It is a good first novel by an author who has experience as a fabulist himself. He uses a character with his same name as the protagonist to tell the story of his downfall as a journalist. However, this is fiction so nothing can be stated as fact, yet he does a good job at explaining how the psychology in his mind that got himself into and out of his mess, and enabled him to restart a new life. Too bad he never went straight to being a novelist.
Rating:
Summary: Liars don't always tell good tales
Review: There's very little here; four simple plot points make up the entire 339 pages (and I'm not giving away any surprises by listing them): Character is disgraced, he hides out with his parents, he works in a video store, he gets a new girlfriend. Little in the way of transition; it's sort of like four short stories. The previous positive reviewer had one thing right--this overpriced first novel takes no more than four or five hours to read, and that should tell you everything about its substance. Critiquing Glass solely on the merit's of his novel, you have to conclude he struck out. If you're tempted to want to judge Glass on his actions, you'll also be disappointed; there are few behind-the-scenes revelations. You'd be better served by catching that 60 minutes piece that ran on him. The one true insight was to learn how inadequate are the fact-checking procedures at most news magazines. The fact-checker in this novel is mostly concerned with proper spelling. Am I the only one who believed that fact checkers actually called every quoted source to confirm they really said what they're reputed to have said? Anyway, if you're looking for great new writing, look much further.
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Summary: The BIG BAD BIONIC BOY WAS HERE!
Review: This book was absolute trash. As I sit here with the CEO of Jukt Micronics (your brother?), I laugh, laugh and laugh. Oh, Stevie boy, what did you do? You're a pathological liar, a scumbag of a human being. You aren't sorry, just sorry you were caught.
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