Famous Writers I Have Known

by James Magnuson

"A gloriously farfetched tale, but alarmingly real to anyone who knows the weird world of MFA programs. Besides which, it's a shit-load of fun." —Peter Carey, two-time winner of the Booker Prize

In this brilliant mix of literary satire and crime caper, Frankie Abandonato, a small-time con man on the run, finds refuge by posing as V. S. Mohle—a famously reclusive writer—and teaching in a prestigious writing program somewhere in Texas. Streetwise and semiliterate, Frankie finds that being treated as a genius agrees with him.

The program has been funded by Rex Schoeninger, the world’s richest novelist, who is dying. Buzzards are circling, angling for the remains of Rex’s fortune, and Frankie quickly realizes that he has been presented with the opportunity of a lifetime. Complicating matters is the fact that Rex is haunted by a twenty-five-year feud with the shadowy Mohle. What rankles Rex is that, while he has written fifty bestsellers and never gotten an ounce of literary respect, Mohle wrote one slender novel, disappeared into the woods, and become an icon. Determined to come to terms with his past, Rex has arranged to bring his rival to Texas, only to find himself facing off against an imposter.

Famous Writers I Have Known is not just an unforgettable literary romp but also a surprisingly tender take on two men—one a scam artist frantic to be believed, the other an old lion desperate to be remembered.

Genres: Fiction, Humor, Satire, Book Club, Writing, Contemporary, Literature

321 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 13, 2014

About the author

James Magnuson is the author of eight previous novels and the recipient of multiple fellowships and awards for fiction. He currently directs the James A. Michener Center for Writers at the University of Texas. He lives in Austin.

Reviews

[Perry · Rating 2 out of 5]

A Magic Kingdom for MFAs
But for non-MFAs:

A novel recounting the enervating, eccentric adventures of various vainglorious ivory-tower-types, that seems mainly meant to amuse MFAs and comparably clever cognoscenti.*^





*Certainly, Professor Magnuson is a brilliant man and I presume he's a splendid teacher, literary expert and very nice, to boot.

^I mean no disrespect or offense to MFAs. I know a few. I like them. I'd love to have one myself [the degree that is].

[Kasey · Rating 4 out of 5]

*So* much fun. Takes deadly aim at the bizarre world of academic creative writing programs, literary celebrity, post-modern imitative culture, and … Texas.

But also--and I think this is a delicate and unusual balance--conveys a good-hearted belief in the power of storytelling, and in the power of narrative to carry our memories. I read this immediately after Susan Choi's My Education, also an academic satire, but of a hard, brittle, embittered kind. This book made me laugh louder and feel happier.

[Kathryn · Rating 2 out of 5]

This author packed similes into his novel like a hyperactive squirrel storing nuts for winter.
Yes, I'm aware that was a weird and crap simile, but it makes my point.

I got this book because it was highly promoted, and because I'm a creative writing student and I like stories about con-artists. I thought this would by my ideal read.

It wasn't. The cardboard cut-out women and the very casual racism really began to bother me after a while. Author didn't bother to flesh out any characters other than the two main old white males, women are vapid, ditzy eye-candy, foreigners are exoticized or are servitor roles.

The story was okay, far-fetched, obviously, but they make sure to warn you about that in the beginning so you don't have the right to call him on how far-fetched it is… tricksy but effective way of avoiding criticism. The story was meh, the writing was meh (intentionally, perhaps, because the narrator isn't supposed to be a writer), so the strongest point about it is how the narrator thinks: about women, about how he can screw over other people (which is his job) which tipped the scales from merely "meh" to "bleh." He's a non-character. He doesn't change throughout the novel. Yes, he feels emotion upon occasion, but that just makes him human, not protagonist or even an anti-hero.

Unimpressed, but I can see this being a suitable junk-food read for a certain audience that wouldn't be bothered by the things that irritated me. Normally I'd give it three stars, but I suppose my expectations of quality were raised because the author was a CW teacher.

[Rita · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this book! It was quirky, funny, and had a little bit of suspense. Set in Austin, you get a little taste of the weirdness of the city while getting insight to the life of a popular writer. Also an easy and fast paced read!

[Julie · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this book, but I cannot for the life of me recall how I came across it. It's fairly light and breezy, maybe even in the summer trash category? Hero/narrator is a con man who, for complicated reasons, ends up posing as a very famous and reclusive author who is the guest teacher in a writing program. All sorts of vaguely identifiable events seem to form the background, and I'm sure for those more attuned to things in the literary world there are many I missed. It's just good fun.

[Liz · Rating 4 out of 5]

A pleasing and well-shaped story about con artists, famous authors, literary programs, and mobster goons. The anti-hero is as lovable as the two escaped convicts who ran the beauty pageant in Happy, Texas. I'll definitely take a look at the author's other books.

[Janet Flora Corso · Rating 4 out of 5]

Writers, take a break and enjoy this satire all about our favorite topic. Completely ridiculous, fun, and, dare I say it, insightful :)

[Mary Hauer · Rating 4 out of 5]

So funny, very inventive. Glad my sister recommended it to me.

[Chuck · Rating 3 out of 5]

"Sometimes writing a sentence can be harder than serving one." Thus begins James Magnuson's comedy/satire about an academic creative writing program. And what does the academy have to do with serving a sentence? Well, protagonist-narrator Frankie Abandonato -- see the next paragraph for the likely source of his name -- is now taking a writing class in the pen after impersonating a reclusive author who made his living with one.

Thanks in part to higher education's tendency to operate on trust, Frankie's impersonation scheme proceeded successfully for quite awhile before eventually being unmasked. Although Famous Writers I have Known is a pretty funny book, Magnuson also adroitly explores a serious sub-theme: Just about anyone who has spent time teaching has at some point felt a bit fraudulent, so why not investigate how far a genuine fraud (How's that for an oxymoron?) can go in such an environment? If the resulting escapade seems far-fetched, which it assuredly is, keep in mind that Frank W. Abagnale (of Catch Me If You Can fame) and Ferdinand Waldo Demara (a/k/a "The Great Imposter") actually did pull off comparable stunts.

After a prolog and a chapter of stage-setting, Frankie, a high-school dropout whose favorite books include The Swiss Family Robinson, arrives at the Austin, Texas airport, having abruptly departed from New York City in the wake of a scam that produced threatening consequences. At the arrival gate in Austin, several MFA students mistake him for V.S. Mohle, a famous writer who produced just one short legendary novel long ago before falling silent, but who has recently agreed to spend a semester in residence at the Fiction Institute of Texas. Sensing an opportunity unfolding, Frankie allows himself to be escorted to Mohle's quarters on campus. Mohle, it turns out, developed cold feet at the last minute, but word of his withdrawal failed to reach anyone at the Fiction Institute, so his position is now Frankie's for the taking (it helps that Frankie resembles an old photograph of Mohle, whom nobody has seen in years). Frankie, despite some initial qualms and a distinct lack of literary competence, quickly opts to stand in for Mohle's (the prospect of a $75,000 paycheck plays no small role in his decision). He manages to teach his required seminar, mainly by having his students read from their own drafts and criticize each other's efforts, and he occasionally receives some tutorial guidance from Wayne Furlough, the Institute director, who is so giddy over having enticed "Mohle" to campus that he is blind to Frankie's failings. Frankie's teaching/mentoring turns out to be unexpectedly successful, and he even manages to navigate his way through a semi-private "author" reading of an excerpt from Mohle's acclaimed novel Eat Your Wheaties. To be sure, Frankie encounters a few difficult situations at times, but as an experienced con artist, he is adept at improvising and bluffing his way through them.

Adding flavor to the plot mix is another character, Rex Schoeninger, a hugely popular (and wealthy) octogenarian writer on the Institute's faculty who has won just about every literary prize imaginable. As Frankie soon learns, however, Rex and V.S. Mohle had a very nasty spat some twenty-five years earlier, one that included a physical altercation on the nationally televised Dick Cavett show. The two combatants have not seen each other since, but it now falls to Frankie/V.S. to meet with Rex and confront their longstanding enmity. As you might expect, Frankie earns high marks in this endeavor, and he is further inspired by dreams of securing a patronage from Schoeninger.

Magnuson's comedic romp milks the mistaken identity motif for all it's worth, yielding a lighthearted and humorous glimpse into academic foibles. It must have taken some effort to develop a consistent character-narrator who is so different from the distinguished academic author who currently directs the Michener Center for Writers at the University of Texas, but Magnuson manages it with seeming ease. And having met Magnuson at a reading that he gave in Austin, I can add that it's mighty refreshing to come across a real professor who possesses a down-to-earth sense of humor.

[Michelle · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fiction
Magnuson, James
Famous Writers I Have Known: A Novel
Read by Kevin T. Collins
Audible audio edition, 10 hours and 11 minutes, unabridged, $4.99
Also available in hardcover (2014) and paperback (W. W. Norton, 978-0-393-35081-4, 320 pgs. $15.95, January 2015)


Famous Writers I Have Known by James Magnuson, director of the James A. Michener Center for Writers at the University of Texas at Austin, is unequal parts noir, caper, and satirical sendup of creative writing programs and the contemporary literary scene, generally.

Frankie Abandonato is a career grifter in New York forced to flee after his latest con goes murderously awry. The first flight out of La Guardia is to Austin and Frankie takes off. Landing in Austin, he’s mistaken for V. S. Mohle (think J.D. Salinger), a famously reclusive author who has agreed to teach a writing workshop at a prestigious fiction program. Sensing the con of a lifetime, Frankie assumes the mantle of tortured genius and must ultimately confront Mohle’s nemesis, Rex Schoeninger (think James Michener). The two writers haven’t spoken since feuding over a Pulitzer came to blows on The Dick Cavett Show.

Famous Authors I Have Known rollicks with farce, especially when Frankie tries to bluff his way through literature workshops, where he mistakes Jay Gatsby for an author, is baffled by “some Cheever guy,” finds himself on the phone with Günter Grass, and assigns exercises such as “Describe a field as seen by a cow. Do not mention the cow.” Students make earnest declarations: “Realism is the atlas of fiction!”
Magnuson’s dialogue is smart, quick, and often hilarious. Here Frankie and his former partner, who have been in prison for most of the 1990s, discuss a newfangled scam involving African royalty and something called email:

“If you think I’m going to pose as a Nigerian prince, you’re crazy.”
“Did I say you were going to have to pose as anybody? That’s the beauty of it. It’s all done on the computer. It’s totally risk-free.”
“I’m not wearing any goddamned robes.”

This novel is all plot as befits a crime caper. Magnuson is judicious with illustrative detail, not feeling the need to painstakingly draw every brick in the wall when a sketch will do for his purposes. The pace is brisk and even suspenseful as the story approaches its climax, holding attention effortlessly.

Famous Authors I Have Known is read by actor Kevin T. Collins, a veteran of audio narration whose work has won a couple of AudioFile Earphones Awards. Collins’s voice is smooth and his pacing even. Frankie is a combination of cynical world-weariness, perpetual bemusement at the alien literary world he’s landed in, and intermittent existential terror. Collins manages this mixture with aplomb, although a bit more attitude would be appropriate and his choice of where to place the emphasis in any particular phrase seemed off at times. Collins does a satisfying range of voices and accents, managing to make Texans sound like Texans, not caricatures.

Magnuson romps through the novel, lightheartedly skewering literary pretention, joining the perennial debate about what is art and what is popular. Is there more value in a single critically-acclaimed novel, or in a career of prosaic prose that “kept generations of readers reading?” Does it matter?

Originally published in Lone Star Literary Life.

[Shelia · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was not a book I might have normally chosen with my ultra-tight book budget.

Thanks to Goodreads, I got to step outside of my normal comfort zone and enjoy this recent-period fiction.

A man tells us the story of how he came to be where he is, shows us in the telling of it that he knows he's not The Good Guy, and lets us see how the events he describes have changed him.

Plain-old fiction isn't the section I browse most frequently, and first-person tales tend to put me off from the first page. This story, told in a straight-forward manner with few flashbacks, needled its way beyond that barrier and put some permanent cracks in it.

The main character makes no apologies for the fact that he's a petty criminal and a con man. During his latest con, he and his partner come into possession of a locker key belonging to a big mobster, and go on the run.

Things go awry right away, and the lead character ends up having to impersonate a famous & reclusive author in order to hide from the mobster's henchmen. The author goes from New York City, to Austin, Texas to teach a writing workshop to a small group of fellowship students for the summer. He's not an educated man, but he knows people, and he knows how to research and build a good con.

What he's completely unprepared for are his earnest and adoring students; the arrival of an old adversary of the writer whose place he's usurping; and the raging, summertime Texas heat.

He's surprised to find himself enjoying the teaching, and the big, fat checks make it even harder to walk away.

The story proceeds in several interesting, and not at all cliched directions before a surprisingly simple and satisfying conclusion.

[Lisa Cobb Sabatini · Rating 3 out of 5]

I was delighted to have won Famous Writers I Have Known by James Magnuson from Goodreads. I confess to having mixed feelings about this book. I found the protagonist, Frankie, to be very likeable. Of course, as this is a first person narrative, the reader sees the world through his eyes. I enjoyed reading the scenes and meeting the characters, some of whom were very interesting, but I was easily distracted from reading, a rare occurrence for me. Especially in the middle of the book, I would stop reading in the midst of a scene. I can't recall the last time I read a book that, once I got to the point that only 100 pages of reading remained, I didn't keep reading to the end. I found the ending satisfying despite the fact that the growth and change in the protagonist, though significant, was small, and I realize that a great deal of character development was needed to reach that character change and story conclusion. There was so much that I liked about this book, yet, for me, it was not a page turner. I like my main characters to learn hard lessons: lessons from which they grow and acquire tools that they use in the end to resolve their challenges. Frankie, a con man, does come to care about his mark, yet is he self aware and will this change have any impact upon him? The narrator, without intent, changes the lives of many of his victims in positive ways, yet he himself ultimately does not change. It is up to the reader to decide if that is a good thing.

[Al · Rating 4 out of 5]

More often than not, funny premises don’t result in consistently funny novels, but “Famous Writers I Have Known” is an exception. Author James Magnuson has a clever “what if”—what if a crook running from the New York mob is mistaken for a famous writing recluse (a la Salinger) when he departs a plane in Austin. A writer’s institute welcomes him with open arms and puts up with his odd behavior since they are in awe of his "famous" company. Throw in a Micheneresque rival who is nursing a long grudge from a public fight on “The Dick Cavett Show,” and you’ve got a very funny take on writer’s workshops in academia: “Nowadays if you wanted to be an author, you didn’t just go out and write a book, you needed a whole gang of people to show you how to do it.” How long will the crook be able to maintain his ruse? Well, that’s the tension throughout the book, as the faux author learns to fake his way through earnest critiques of student stories as well as receptions with the University’s president: “Could I last a whole semester without someone seeing through me? It didn’t seem likely, but for seventy-five grand, I could at least give it a try.” And all along Magnuson, the director of an actual writer’s center in Austin, has a field day satirizing academia, making “Famous Writers I Have Known” the funniest novel of its kind since Jane Smiley’s “Moo.” Recommended.

[Tracy · Rating 3 out of 5]

I wanted to really, really like this book. In the end it came down to the main character Frankie Abandonato - pun on the last name - I got it. i just couldn't connect with him. This was a satire about writers and MFA programs. It was the B (or A) story that felt like the real satire and "wink-wink". It was as if every cliche, plot device, stock character and literary device was used to get the reader from point a to z. Yes, a very fun read, but for me, satire usually has something bigger to say.

While I kept reading to see where Frankie would land - even though it opens up at the end - he never quite lands there. He is as superficial as the relationships he forces throughout the book. Is Magnuson saying that writer's are superficial and self-centered, and that there is no authenticity in the world of writer's and MFA programs? If so, pretty damn bleak.

Frankie went on a journey, but I don't think he arrived at any place in particular. It was as if he were an anti-character - and again, maybe this was the wink-wink satirical moment. This would definitely be a good book to use in an intro to creative writing MFA class.

[Eilonwy · Rating 2 out of 5]

I probably would have finished this book and given it three stars, except that as far as I'm concerned, bringing in an animal for the sole purpose of sacrificing it is a deal breaker, and this particular plot element was just far too obvious; as soon as the dog appeared, I knew what was going to happen. I should have just stopped right there.

I probably would have enjoyed this book more if it had been completely fictitious, instead of having one author who is entirely based on James Michener, and one who is entirely based on J. D. Salinger. I kept thinking they'd both been kind of hijacked, if that makes any sense.

And this is a personal bias, but I kept wondering if this rather slight story would have gotten the promotional push it seems to have received if it had been written by a female author about female characters, rather than by a male author about male characters. Because while it's got its touching moments, at least in the half I got through, there just doesn't seem to be that much to it.

This makes two turkeys in a row for me as far as the (newspaper) reviewer who recommended it goes. I guess we do NOT share the same tastes.

[booksandcarbs · Rating 3 out of 5]

I eagerly anticipated this book when I put it on my "to read" shelf a couple of months ago, but I was a bit disappointed. I've seen that some Goodreads reviewers complained about the "far-fetched" plot, but that did not bother me. If anything, I wanted a couple of its narrative threads to be tied up in a crazy, cool bow that would have been even more far fetched and soap opera-esque (won't be specific so as to avoid spoilers). Why not go big when you already have a crazy coincidence-based plot? Mostly though, I wanted the satire of the MFA program and its students to be sharper because that was what I most expected to enjoy about the book. I will add that I listened to the audio production of this book. The narrator was a mismatch (not a bad narrator, but far too young sounding for a character who is supposed to be a lifetime confidence man). I'm giving it three stars because it was entertaining enough and because I think that if I had read it in print (or listened with a narrator who was a better fit) that would be my rating.

[Anne · Rating 4 out of 5]

I almost left this book at the library, but then I thought, I'll bet I would love this, actually. And I did! The author is the director of the James A. Michener Center for Writers at the University of Texas, and this book is a witty, hilarious send-up of his profession, in general, but most specifically of Michener and J.D. Salinger, who are given different names, of course, but are obviously the two writers central to the story. The narrator is a small-time con man in New York City, who finds it necessary to flee the city as quickly as possible when he finds the body of his recently-murdered partner-in-crime in their hotel room. The narrator bears an uncanny resemblance to what the J.D. Salinger character may well look like (he hasn't been seen in 25 years) and we are off to the races. At one point, the precious writer wannabes in the MFA program play the "first line of your favorite novel" game, and this book has a pretty great one: "Sometimes writing a sentence can be harder than serving one".

[Tammy Hastings · Rating 4 out of 5]

I received this through First Reads Giveaways.

I really, really liked this book, and it brought to mind so many of my favorite books that it was just... it was so much fun.

At times I saw Kerouac's On the Road. Other times, I saw the character of Wednesday from Gaiman's American Gods in Frankie. At times, I even saw a mish mash of Prachett's Discworld books, even though the plot of this book and the plot of Prachett's books have absolutely NOTHING in common. Ha.

I just loved following Frankie's life, and seeing the world through his conniving -- yet somehow innocent and naïve -- eyes is just delightful. The only reason I didn't give this five stars is because there were a few times during the middle when the plot got a little bogged down and slow. But overall, it was just a great read.

[K.E. Garvey · Rating 4 out of 5]

If you can get past the fact that 'Famous Writers I Have Known' is far-fetched, it really is an enjoyable read. I didn't find Frankie the most likeable character, giving me little reason to root for him, but I did find him believable. And, although from page one he is a garden variety con man, he does show a few redeeming qualities (not using Rex's checkbook, for example). The tale is tall, but it is told with a clear voice making it a page turner.

*A couple of typos that could be fixed in the Kindle edition, for example: Page 32, Paragraph 9, First line, 'A' older woman should be 'An' older woman. Also, Page 135, Paragraph 5, Line 5, I believe the word 'of' should be inserted between the words 'out' and 'his'. It doesn't read right without it

[Ben · Rating 5 out of 5]

I thought this novel was clever on three levels - the con man story was fun, the MFA satire was withering, and the writing style of the narrator as a self-aware but unlettered grifter trying his hand at literature was fun. I noticed some people found some of the similes and tropes a little cringey, but when you remember that the narrator is trying to do a sort of Elmore Leonard impression, it makes more sense. Could this book be too lit nerd meta? It's a satire of a crime novel satirizing an MFA program run by satirized blowhard novelists. I got a kick out of it all. It's a quick read and a lot of fun.

[Kate Elizabeth · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5. Funny and ACTION-PACKED! (I put that in caps because it feels like a description you'd find on a cereal box ad about a Saturday morning cartoon. KA-POW!) If you majored in English/creative writing or have ever taken a writing seminar, this is worth a read. I so loved my writing classes in college, but yeah, a lot of the discussion there is pretentious and kind of meaningless, and this book sheds light on that in the loveliest and most amusing way.

[Alison · Rating 3 out of 5]

Con man fakes identity as reclusive author at exclusive writing program funded by Michner-like old dude. The character's voice sounded wrong to me. He should have brought more of his past to his current situation.

[Katie Bruell · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was pretty good for a book written by a man--reasonably funny, not too much sex or women behaving like men, or any of the other things that have made me hate every book I've picked up lately by a man.

[Laurie L · Rating 5 out of 5]

Heard the review on NPR, and added it to my post-holiday list. So glad I did! Smart, funny, and such a good story teller!

[Buttonwillow · Rating 3 out of 5]

Entertaining, thoroughly unbelievable, funny, a tad excessive

[Janice · Rating 2 out of 5]

Enjoyable but no deep thinking involved.

[Corrielle · Rating 5 out of 5]

Why I picked it up: It was on two lists I came across in quick succession, one featuring books about writers and the other featuring novels that take place in academia. I thought the premise was amusing both times I read about it, and when it turned out our little local library had a copy, it seemed like the universe telling me to pick it up.

What I thought: Absolutely delightful. I had such fun reading this. I loved the narrator's wise-guy voice and colorful similes, and I loved the gentle fun being made of the world of MFA programs and writers and awards. I did my MFA starting in 2003, so even though I was a few years behind when the action of the novel takes place, I felt like I knew all of the characters, especially the students.

Frankie's "outsider" perspective on how literary folks act was pointed, but not mean, and it was fun to watch him navigate the role he accidentally stumbled into using all of the experience and people skills he picked up as a con artist. I also like that Frankie ends up helping the kids in "V.S. Mohle's" class despite not knowing the first thing about being a writer or teaching, and that he's genuinely happy for the ones that find success, even as he's pulling the wool over their eyes.

I was a kid who read several of James Michener novels because my mom had them lying around, so I recognized who Rex Schoeninger was based on pretty quickly, and I liked how the author of this book drew out the relationship between Rex and Mohle (the real one) and Rex and Frankie-as-Mohle. There's lots to think about when it comes to why people write and literary snobbery and what writing is "deserving" of praise and attention, but there's also a lot about the desire to leave a legacy and the cost of ambition.

I sound awfully serious in that last paragraph, but this book is FUNNY. I found myself laughing out loud, wondering how not-Mohle was going to talk himself out of each new situation, and at the absurdity of the situation in general.

Read this if: You've ever been in a creative writing program, taught a creative writing class, or needed to BS your way through a conversation about books you haven't read.

[Bob · Rating 5 out of 5]

What a fun read!
James Magnuson packs so many twists and turns into this beautifully crafted, engaging satire that you'll find yourself trying to guess what will be next — and you'll be wrong.
No, you won't even be close.
"Famous Writers I Have Known" spoofs the literati, writers' workshops and writing awards in the style which only can come from a superb writer. Can't you just picture the classroom of would-be authors taking seriously the assignment to "Describe a field as seen by a cow. Do not mention the cow." Hilarious!
Don't miss all the creative similes. The main character endorses a bogus check "careless and easy as Nolan Ryan signing a baseball." Another character jumps in excitement "like a six-year-old in his first fun house."
The descriptive details will make you wonder how the devil Magnuson thought of all this. Like the SkyMall catalog selling orthopedic couches for dogs, a young woman who looks like "Annette Funicello, but sexier," and a protagonist who admits, "All I knew about universities I'd learned from watching Fred MacMurray in 'Son of Flubber.' "
Add the New Jersey mob, the dog, the cons, Texas hill country, the vengeful Yugoslavian cook, the dueling authors, of course, and Neenah-Menasha, Wisconsin, of all places on God' blue planet, and you've a handful of hours of reading pleasure.

[Lona Manning · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is a light-hearted caper novel. While reading it, I kept seeing it in my mind's eye as a movie starring Bill Murray, especially the opening scenes. The plot is filled with improbable coincidences, (though Magnuson does work hard to back-fill them) but it's all in the service of setting up an interesting and funny premise--a con-man masquerading as a venerated but reclusive author, leading a creative writing class and pretending he knows what he's talking about when he doesn't know his Asquith from his elbow. You don't need to be a literary maven to enjoy this novel, though, and it's a breezy, quick read--well, there are some somber moments, but just enough to add some ballast to what is a comic but implausible yarn.

[Turtleman · Rating 3 out of 5]

A fun read about a con man on the run who is mistaken for a reclusive writer (think JD Salinger) and becomes a creative writing teacher. Some obvious jokes about creative writing programs and students. Much of the novel involves past issues between the (fake) reclusive writer and another famous and rich novelist who wrote huge novels about many places around the world but doesn't get literary praise (think James Michener). Most of the other characters are pretty generic, but the author keeps the book moving and I did enjoy the novel.