Michael White runs a daily amusing caption contest at his site mypalmike.com, and thus it came as almost no surprise when he was one of the winners of the amusing New Yorker Cartoon Anti-Caption Contest (one of a series) that my friend Daniel Radosh runs on his site, radosh.net. As it happens, Michael’s prize was a copy of The Coup. Showing himself to a man who takes his prizes seriously, Michael read the book, and showing himself to be the product of well-mannered upbringing, he wrote me a note. It says, “I’m no book reviewer, but any book that keeps me interested enough to read straight through in one sitting, as The Coup did, is a winner. The pacing was crisp, the satire wonderful, and the characters all too convincingly real. Every time the plot seemed to have a hole opening up (won’t someone figure out the Tom Ralston pool / Godwin Pope connection?), the story ended up filling it in. The ending was indeed ‘altogether satisfying’, to steal from Kurt Andersen‘s review on the back cover. In short, thanks very much, and congratulations on the success of your book.’’
Thanks, dude, I appreciate it.
As it happens, I’ve received some other congratulatory missives.
“Good work—-looks like fun!’’ —Mort Zuckerman, owner, New York Daily News. “Great fun! Thanks for a good read.’’–Karna Small Bodman, formerly Senior Director of the National Security Council under President Reagan. “Congratulations on the book. It’s really a hoot.’’ – Elissa Schappell, Vanity Fair’s Hot Type columnist. “I loved it–so entertaining, and perfectly executed…really marvelous. Sentence for sentence, it’s a study in conveying lots of information gracefully and effortlessly. Really impressive.’’ – George Kalogerakis of The New York Times.“I really enjoyed your book! But why did Irene Kim (who’s Chinese) have a fake Korean name, not a fake Chinese name like Irene Liu or any other Chinese last name?’’ – Soyoung Ho, late of The Washington Monthly, now of Forbes.com (Answer: Authorial stupidity.) “Your book is a gem. I’m one of those old guys who rarely reads five sentences without stopping to try a at least one of them out, see if it couldn’t be shorter, tighter. I read your book right through.’’ –- novelist Ben Cheever. “Delicious!” — Tom Leihbacher, the most popular man in Briarcliff Manor. “Loved the book! Also, it is the first book that I have read in more than a year that did not contain a single typo or misused homonym. And, I average about two books per week.” — Frank Nowicki of Ft. Meyers Florida, who saw the byline on the book and suspected, correctly as it turns out, that we might be second cousins. “It’s a terrific read. Very cleverly plotted, full of fun riffs on familiar characters. I enjoyed it immensely.’’ – Playboy president Christie Hefner.