The Fabulist

Rating:
Summary: weak, self justifying
Review: This fictionalized memoir fits the trend of autobiography as a replacement for therapy. But rather than giving a compelling story about sin, or powerful story of redemption, it contains the whining of someone who just can't seem to understand why everyone (sob) hates him. seems to be the strongest defense Glass can muster as he whines about mistreatment throughout the book. There is a superficial sorrow as he realizes how he destroyed others' careers through his lies and how he betrayed the trust of everyone around him, but most of the book is mired in his reflections about his lack of self love. He only seems to muster real emotion when contemplating the suffering he goes through when people overreacted to his lies. What I found most interesting about this book is its complete lack of understanding of other character's concerns and problems--Glass's narcissist's mind cannot seem to see others beyond the anecdotal, colorful vignettes he peppered his articles and stories with. Thus the stereotypical coworkers, parents, brothers, and women. Glass cannot extend his imagination and interest enough to write about anyone except himself, and his refusal to probe his own psyche leaves his only important character (himself) blank and dull.

Rating:
Summary: Empty Glass
Review: This is a truly awful book. "Glass" is weak, conniving and unable to apologize, even when he says he wants to. Are we supposed to like him? The prose is awful, too. "Gamine charm"? Please! The characters are thin, the plot is silly. If it reflects real life, fine, but there are some stories in life that don't translate well into books, particularly books about boring people who do bad things and then wallow around in self pity for 300 pages. Like this one. I'm not sure what readers are supposed to get out of this - from what I understand, the characters are just thinly veiled standins for real people. And most of the book is just set pieces for Glass to attack them. Oh, and there's this positively offensive subplot about how he finds religion, and all the good, observant Jews (including a band of mah-jongg-playing grandmothers!) forgive him, and by implication all the nonobservant Jews at the "Washington Weekly" (read "The New Republic") are bad because they don't. The editor, Robert Underwood, is, according to the rabbi, a formerly observant Jew who went secular; what, then, are we to make of his ultra-goy surname? Clearly that he, and I'm guessing a lot of the writers at the Weekly (like his former friend Lindsay), aren't just secular, but self-denying. A big charge to come from a guy in such a hole as Glass. The rabbi even tells him they are his "mark of Cain," protecting him from further punishment. Jeez! This guy Glass, at least his character, has a lot of nerve - he doesn't apologize to anyone, and he's only sorry because his lying hurt him and his family. And at the end of the book, the lesson he takes with him when he moves to NYC is that journalism wasn't for him. So: Bad writing, thin characters, ridiculous plot, and no moral. Truly, truly awful.

Rating:
Summary: a very unpleasant boring no-good book
Review: This is one of the worst book I ever read. Not only is it boring and uninteresting, but it is pretentious, self-gloating, full of itself. Basically I find this book annoying, unpleasant and a waste of pages.

Rating:
Summary: Gee, why can't I be you?
Review: This was a book I wanted to like, although I'm doubtless the kind of person Mr. Glass would hold nothing but contempt for personally. I've written no bestsellers, had no fat publishing contracts, never gotten a J.D., or much of anything else. In other words, not a mover, shaker, "numbah cruncha" or any other sch member of the power elite that Glass lionized--and, clearly, still wants to be. Still:

Despite the fact that I'm conservative, I always rather liked Mr. Glass's journalism (though I understand that what we wrote and how much was rewritten by his editor is still under debate) and was not even terribly shocked when he was exposed. He must have been under tremendous strain, and he was clearly under a lot of pressure to give his editors what they "wanted." A firmer guiding hand (appropriate for a young reporter) would have nipped his tale-telling in the bud. And unlike certain politicians, Glass's errors really were "mistakes of his youth." There's a place for shame and regret--heaven knows I have some from when I was 25!--but also a time for looking forward.

But the key is to learn from one's mistakes and move forward, and that is where this book so severely disappoints. The first 30 pages or so, where he is unmasked as a fraud, are the best--one does get a genuine sense of his shame and realization of his error. But after that? Self-pitying drivel about girlfriends, a rather weak religious conversion, and the inceasingly chilling realization that Glass has indeed learned very little from his mistakes. I was hoping he could pull himself out of his self-pitying Elizabeth-Wurtzelish prose long enough to come to some kind of epiphany, but no such luck. I don't think it's any accident that Mr. Glass turned to law school after his defrocking: on nearly every page of this tome, he makes clear that he still wants to be one of the young "Masters of the Universe" that he once was, a power broker and policy maker. Doubtless he'll be offered a position as a speechwriter in the next Clinton administration, or perhaps White House press secretary. I admire Glass's shrewdness in writing this "apologia," but it's nothing of the kind, and only the most casual reader could conclude otherwise. There is a great deal that Glass could have done with this book--and his life since The New Republic. He has apparently done none of it. It's not too late for him to change, if he wants to, but book deals such as these certainly give him no incentive. Look inside, Mr. Glass, and write what you see. I'm sure it'll be more compelling than what you've given us here.

Rating:
Summary: Scam
Review: What? This is a novel a publisher bought and paid for and distributed and is a novel some people have taken seriously? Get out of town. The narrator is a sniviling weasel who is misjudged and whose feelings are hurt by girls as a boy. He is self-absorbed and, to all appearances ( like Jake's comment about Robert in The Sun Also Rises )a case of continuing adolescence. At least Robert could box. This guy Stephen Glass ought to be barred from publishing for ten years as are Wall Street felons. This novel is just another scam and its publishers ought to be ashamed of themselves. Don't read this book, you'll only get depressed.

Rating:
Summary: Just say no.
Review: Your integrity is at stake. There's no story here unless you like reading the life and times of a pathetic impotent man that let his affliction beat the system. And then he wants you, the reader, to understand 'his side'. No brainier - just say no.

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