Word: readerly
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Allusions to previous plot lines and novels are frequent, and while they are not central to the stories, they leave far too many nagging questions and undermine the collection’s attempt to reach new readers. “The Hunt for Dmitri” particularly irks. The story, set against the backdrop of post-Cold War intrigue, is essentially the prologue for the author’s upcoming novel, and it leaves the reader feeling used, duped into reading the story only to realize that it produces more questions than it answers...
...writing has its own musical quality. From the first sentence to the last, “Bel Canto” flows so beautifully that it is quite possible to read it in one sitting. Patchett’s descriptions are so vivid that by the end, the reader feels intimately connected not only with the hostages, but also with the terrorists...
...real world must intrude and the stand-off must end eventually, and when it does, the reader is left feeling bittersweet, wishing that the group could have lived happily in their sealed world for years to come. The harmony that develops between hostages and captors is only possible in Patchett’s world, but we are nonetheless left hoping for its reality...
...prefatory “Note to the Reader,” the unnamed protagonist—ostensibly the author of Elizabeth Kostova’s debut novel “The Historian”—indulges in a moment of metanarration...
...Andy Grove went to the American Society of Newspaper Editors and told them [in 1999] that they had three years before their whole business would change. Well, they don't have three years, they probably have 30 years. Every time a newspaper reader dies, he will not be replaced. If you look at what it costs to produce and distribute a newspaper, there comes a time when the subscriber base can't sustain the production and distribution costs. Thirty years ago teens didn't read newspapers, but they started when they reached their 30s. Today, teens don't read newspapers...