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About the Author
Just how did Cal Cunningham—a twenty-five-year-old bookstore stockboy who is new to Manhattan and who has never written anything—publish a bestselling novel that sells to the movies for a million dollars?
A mysterious roommate, a timely bike accident, and the rapacious literary agent Blackie Yaeger all play a role in Cal's success.
Deception, blackmail, and murder all play a role in his desperate bid to hold on to it.
And About the Author is his first-person account of how he performed this remarkable feat.
A mysterious roommate, a timely bike accident, and the rapacious literary agent Blackie Yaeger all play a role in Cal's success.
Deception, blackmail, and murder all play a role in his desperate bid to hold on to it.
And About the Author is his first-person account of how he performed this remarkable feat.
254 pages, Paperback
First published July 31, 2001
124 people are currently reading
2069 people want to read
About the author
John Colapinto
14 books82 followersAn award-winning journalist, author and novelist and is currently a staff writer at The New Yorker.
Prior to working at The New Yorker, Colapinto wrote for Vanity Fair, New York magazine and The New York Times Magazine, and in 1995 he became a contributing editor at Rolling Stone,[1] where he published feature stories on a variety of subjects ranging from AIDS, to kids and guns, to heroin in the music business, to Penthouse magazine creator, Bob Guccione (his Guccione story was a finalist for the ASME award in profile writing in 2004). In 1998, he published a 20,000 word feature story in Rolling Stone titled The True Story of John/Joan, an account of David Reimer, who had undergone a sex change in infancy—a medical experiment long heralded as a success, but which was, in fact, a failure. The story, which detailed not only Reimer's tortured life, but the medical scandal surrounding its cover-up, won the ASME Award for reporting and in 2000, Colapinto published a book-length account of the case, As Nature Made Him: The Boy Who Was Raised As A Girl. The book was a New York Times bestseller and the film rights were bought by Peter Jackson, the director of the Lord of the Rings trilogy. Colapinto also wrote a novel, About the Author, a tale of literary envy and theft. It was published in August 2001 and was a number 6 pick on the Booksense 76 list of best novels of the season; it was a nominee for the IMPAC literary award and for a number of years was under option by Dreamworks, where playwright Patrick Marber (Closer and Howard Katz) wrote a screen adaptation. The film rights to the novel have since been acquired by producer Scott Rudin.
As a writer for The New Yorker, Colapinto has written about subjects as diverse as medicinal leeches; Sotheby's auctioneer Tobias Meyer; fashion designers Karl Lagerfeld and Rick Owens; the linguistic oddities of the Pirahã people (an Amazonian tribe); and Paul McCartney. His piece on the Piraha was anthologized in "The Best American Science and Nature Writing" (2008); his New Yorker story about loss prevention (anti-theft in stores) was included in "The Best American Crime Reporting" (2009);[2] and his New Yorker profile of neuroscientist V.S. Ramachandran was selected by Freeman Dyson for inclusion in "The Best American Science and Nature Writing" (2010).
John Colapinto lives on New York City's Upper East Side. He is married to fashion illustrator and artist, Donna Mehalko, and they have one son.
-Wikipedia
Prior to working at The New Yorker, Colapinto wrote for Vanity Fair, New York magazine and The New York Times Magazine, and in 1995 he became a contributing editor at Rolling Stone,[1] where he published feature stories on a variety of subjects ranging from AIDS, to kids and guns, to heroin in the music business, to Penthouse magazine creator, Bob Guccione (his Guccione story was a finalist for the ASME award in profile writing in 2004). In 1998, he published a 20,000 word feature story in Rolling Stone titled The True Story of John/Joan, an account of David Reimer, who had undergone a sex change in infancy—a medical experiment long heralded as a success, but which was, in fact, a failure. The story, which detailed not only Reimer's tortured life, but the medical scandal surrounding its cover-up, won the ASME Award for reporting and in 2000, Colapinto published a book-length account of the case, As Nature Made Him: The Boy Who Was Raised As A Girl. The book was a New York Times bestseller and the film rights were bought by Peter Jackson, the director of the Lord of the Rings trilogy. Colapinto also wrote a novel, About the Author, a tale of literary envy and theft. It was published in August 2001 and was a number 6 pick on the Booksense 76 list of best novels of the season; it was a nominee for the IMPAC literary award and for a number of years was under option by Dreamworks, where playwright Patrick Marber (Closer and Howard Katz) wrote a screen adaptation. The film rights to the novel have since been acquired by producer Scott Rudin.
As a writer for The New Yorker, Colapinto has written about subjects as diverse as medicinal leeches; Sotheby's auctioneer Tobias Meyer; fashion designers Karl Lagerfeld and Rick Owens; the linguistic oddities of the Pirahã people (an Amazonian tribe); and Paul McCartney. His piece on the Piraha was anthologized in "The Best American Science and Nature Writing" (2008); his New Yorker story about loss prevention (anti-theft in stores) was included in "The Best American Crime Reporting" (2009);[2] and his New Yorker profile of neuroscientist V.S. Ramachandran was selected by Freeman Dyson for inclusion in "The Best American Science and Nature Writing" (2010).
John Colapinto lives on New York City's Upper East Side. He is married to fashion illustrator and artist, Donna Mehalko, and they have one son.
-Wikipedia
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 233 reviews
January 17, 2011
This book was the most pleasure I had reading in recent years. A roller coaster ride. Not that I would hang around with this guy but this the kind of book I would give as gift, not for the story but for the prose.
John Colapinto proved to be an excellent writer.
I never heard of him before I visited a bookstore on a rainy day. I picked up this release and read a few paragraphs, and a brief comment from Stephen King on the back cover made me purchase it.
John Colapinto proved to be an excellent writer.
I never heard of him before I visited a bookstore on a rainy day. I picked up this release and read a few paragraphs, and a brief comment from Stephen King on the back cover made me purchase it.
April 4, 2015
For writer-types like me, this novel is a hoot. It tells of Cal Cunningham, a wannabe writer whose nerdy roommate secretly pens a novel based on Cal’s sexual adventures on the New York City singles scene, which consume a lot more of his time and energy than writing does. After the roommate dies, Cal steals his manuscript and publishes it as his own, winning literary fame and wealth but eventually entangling himself in blackmail and murder. With wry wit and considerable insight on the lit biz, John Colapinto spins an entertaining tale.
January 24, 2022
Can It be considered theft of a manuscript when said story was based on your own life as related the morning after in a one-on-one conversation? Your life, verbatim, used to pen A dazzling novel . And what if said author dies unexpectedly before anyone has read or even was made aware of such a written masterpiece? Should you have the right to your own story even if it was written by somebody else?
This complicated, yet easily read, story of wrong rights and unjustified ends weaves in a love story (of sorts) and a smidge of mystery.
This complicated, yet easily read, story of wrong rights and unjustified ends weaves in a love story (of sorts) and a smidge of mystery.
November 19, 2012
This is an immensely entertaining book that consistently subverts the reader's expectations. It is both a farce and a noir thriller (a neat trick, as I can't recall reading anything like it before), and an astute and biting commentary on literature and the book business. Aspiring (or actual) writers will enjoy Colapinto's hapless protagonist, Cal Cunningham, a would-be novelist whose authorial struggles suck him into a vortex of lying, cheating, stealing, and killing (n.b., I am not giving away plot points). But any reader who appreciates a great plot will love it, too. For Colapinto expertly lures the reader through a series of reversals, each topping the last. Just when Cal appears to disappear down the toilet, he pops back up, like a buoyant and stubborn turd. Incidentally, Cal shares this quality with another key character, and the interaction of these two turds (yes, I really did write that) propels the novel to a satisfying and suitably absurd ending. That Colapinto effects these surprises without straining credibility (too much) is a credit to the screwball atmosphere he establishes at the beginning of the novel.
The novel has a few weak points. There are some jarring notes (mostly factual inaccuracies)--minor issues that would have been revised with closer editing. For example, Cal takes a flight from Newark, NJ to Burlington, VT on a 747. The venerable "jumbo jet" is many things, but a short-haul regional aircraft is not one of them. 737 is probably what the author intended. The first part of the novel is set in the early 1990s, yet the author describes "double-breasted smoothies with their gold cards and Rolexes". While "double-breasted smoothies" is a neat phrase, evocative of some sort of exotic bird, the image as a whole belongs more in power-suit 1980s of Tom Wolfe's "Bonfire of the Vanities". The early 90s were a return to single-breasted suits (with proliferating buttons and pleated pants), and Amex's Platinum Card (first offered in 1984) had superseded its gold card in terms of cache. But I am quibbling. (Pointing these things out suggests more about my own failings than it does about the author's.)
A more significant problem is the weakness of one of the major female characters, Janet; Colapinto never really gets beyond his physical description of her. Indeed, Colapinto spends too much time on the whole dwelling on people's appearances. The novel is a good example of my inverse theory of external and internal characterization: the more vivid the physical description of a character, the less vivid the inner (psychological and emotional) description. (Yes, I just invented that, though others have expressed the same idea in different terms. "Look on my works, ye mighty, and despair!") Cal is psychologically and emotionally vivid, but his appearance is ambiguous enough that the reader's imagination is free to conjure up any number of faces that would fit. Janet's appearance is described in great detail, yet the reader never really understands her very well. Perhaps this is owing to the novel's voice (first person, from Cal's perspective), and Janet is to the reader as Cal sees her. But this explanation is still unsatisfying, for it fails to explain Cal's devotion to her. But enough about that. As that great rabbit philosopher, Thumper, once observed: "If you can't say something nice, don't say nothing at all." So, back to to the nice.
Colapinto's book is excellent. Cal's reliably bad decisions are the leitmotif of this very funny and engaging story. Despite Cal's failings (or perhaps because of them) the reader never tires of, nor loses sympathy for him in this memorable novel. Highly recommended.
The novel has a few weak points. There are some jarring notes (mostly factual inaccuracies)--minor issues that would have been revised with closer editing. For example, Cal takes a flight from Newark, NJ to Burlington, VT on a 747. The venerable "jumbo jet" is many things, but a short-haul regional aircraft is not one of them. 737 is probably what the author intended. The first part of the novel is set in the early 1990s, yet the author describes "double-breasted smoothies with their gold cards and Rolexes". While "double-breasted smoothies" is a neat phrase, evocative of some sort of exotic bird, the image as a whole belongs more in power-suit 1980s of Tom Wolfe's "Bonfire of the Vanities". The early 90s were a return to single-breasted suits (with proliferating buttons and pleated pants), and Amex's Platinum Card (first offered in 1984) had superseded its gold card in terms of cache. But I am quibbling. (Pointing these things out suggests more about my own failings than it does about the author's.)
A more significant problem is the weakness of one of the major female characters, Janet; Colapinto never really gets beyond his physical description of her. Indeed, Colapinto spends too much time on the whole dwelling on people's appearances. The novel is a good example of my inverse theory of external and internal characterization: the more vivid the physical description of a character, the less vivid the inner (psychological and emotional) description. (Yes, I just invented that, though others have expressed the same idea in different terms. "Look on my works, ye mighty, and despair!") Cal is psychologically and emotionally vivid, but his appearance is ambiguous enough that the reader's imagination is free to conjure up any number of faces that would fit. Janet's appearance is described in great detail, yet the reader never really understands her very well. Perhaps this is owing to the novel's voice (first person, from Cal's perspective), and Janet is to the reader as Cal sees her. But this explanation is still unsatisfying, for it fails to explain Cal's devotion to her. But enough about that. As that great rabbit philosopher, Thumper, once observed: "If you can't say something nice, don't say nothing at all." So, back to to the nice.
Colapinto's book is excellent. Cal's reliably bad decisions are the leitmotif of this very funny and engaging story. Despite Cal's failings (or perhaps because of them) the reader never tires of, nor loses sympathy for him in this memorable novel. Highly recommended.
April 29, 2008
Execellent execution of an interesting premise. It was clever and fast paced. I enjoyed it start to finish. Great book. Especially in the context of A Million Little Pieces, et al.
March 3, 2015
Već jako dugo nisam čitala ovako dobar krimić ,kao što je roman "Bilješka o piscu", kanadskog pisca Johna Colapinta.
Glavni protagonist romana je Cal Cunnigham, 25-godišnji skladištar u New Yorku, kojemu je životna želja biti poznat i slavni pisac. Sve bi bilo lako, da se upravo on ne bori s jednom "sitnicom" koja je jako važna da bi postao pisac, a to je nedostatak inspiracije za pisanje.
Život mu se svodi na često mijenjanje žena različitih godina i zanimanja, a svoje ljubavne egzibicije priča svom cimeru Stewartu, povučenom i stidljivom studentu prava.
Stewart potajno piše roman o Calovom životu i kad mu to jednoga dana ovaj saopći, Cal biva iznenađen.
Tragičnim spletom okolnosti Stewart pogine u automobilskoj nesreći, a Cal "prisvaja" njegov roman i objavljuje pod svojim imenom. I ne samo to. Cal upoznaje i Stewartovu prijašnju djevojku, ljubav njegova života i ženi ju. Naravno, roman ne bi bio tako uzbudljiv, da se ne pojavljuje osoba koja ga ucjenjuje.
To je kratak sadržaj ovog, po meni uzbudljivog i napetog romana, koji sam pročitala i koji me je vukao na čitanje do zadnje stranice.
Ono što mi se iznimno svidjelo u ovom romanu je upravo taj hitchcockovski stil , a to znači da ovdje zaista ne nedostaje napetosti i naglih obrata situacije.
Roman se bavi pitanjem moralnosti, iskrenosti, prevare i ucjene, ali i najvažnije stvari , a to je plagijat već napisanog dijela.
Koliko su neki kadri ići da bi živjeli na tuđoj slavi?
Kako se sve završilo, neću vam reći. Svakako uzmite roman i pročitajte. Nećete požaliti.
Glavni protagonist romana je Cal Cunnigham, 25-godišnji skladištar u New Yorku, kojemu je životna želja biti poznat i slavni pisac. Sve bi bilo lako, da se upravo on ne bori s jednom "sitnicom" koja je jako važna da bi postao pisac, a to je nedostatak inspiracije za pisanje.
Život mu se svodi na često mijenjanje žena različitih godina i zanimanja, a svoje ljubavne egzibicije priča svom cimeru Stewartu, povučenom i stidljivom studentu prava.
Stewart potajno piše roman o Calovom životu i kad mu to jednoga dana ovaj saopći, Cal biva iznenađen.
Tragičnim spletom okolnosti Stewart pogine u automobilskoj nesreći, a Cal "prisvaja" njegov roman i objavljuje pod svojim imenom. I ne samo to. Cal upoznaje i Stewartovu prijašnju djevojku, ljubav njegova života i ženi ju. Naravno, roman ne bi bio tako uzbudljiv, da se ne pojavljuje osoba koja ga ucjenjuje.
To je kratak sadržaj ovog, po meni uzbudljivog i napetog romana, koji sam pročitala i koji me je vukao na čitanje do zadnje stranice.
Ono što mi se iznimno svidjelo u ovom romanu je upravo taj hitchcockovski stil , a to znači da ovdje zaista ne nedostaje napetosti i naglih obrata situacije.
Roman se bavi pitanjem moralnosti, iskrenosti, prevare i ucjene, ali i najvažnije stvari , a to je plagijat već napisanog dijela.
Koliko su neki kadri ići da bi živjeli na tuđoj slavi?
Kako se sve završilo, neću vam reći. Svakako uzmite roman i pročitajte. Nećete požaliti.
May 31, 2011
This book started out real good and then about 75-100 pages in, it turned into one of those books that I would have to force myself to finish. The only reason I kept on reading was because a friend gave it to me and I knew she would see my review on here so I kept plodding along and all of a sudden I found myself unable to put it down. In the end it all comes together in a way I wasn't expecting and now I am very glad the friend gave it to me and I am glad I kept on reading when I was tempted to put it down. I would suggest this book to read but not because King has endorsed it but because it is a good book.
June 4, 2021
Library: I picked this one up after seeing it recommended several times on MMD’s site. It’s a great pick if you like to read about the literary world. The mystery was fun and there were lots of twists and turns. It felt like an older book than it is, but maybe that’s only because it was written before cell phones.
May 20, 2022
This snagged my attention at the beginning and I was excited to read it. But after about halfway through, the plot becomes so improbable with exaggerated characters that it took away from the enjoyment of reading. It is a clever idea, but it relies too much on coincidence to drive the narrative. I will say it's well written and well paced but just became too much toward the end.
September 1, 2021
The plotting kept us turning the pages, but the characters were all highly unlikeable with little about them to root for, so in the end it was good fodder for book club discussion.
Read
July 19, 2022A really unique read. Part comment on the literary world, part triller. Really enjoyed this.
September 30, 2024
Highly original with great suspense and the story wasn’t over complicated with too many characters or underlying sub-plots.
The protagonist did himself into a deep hole with plenty of “what are you doing!” moments, and it just became an engaging book for me, start to finish.
The protagonist did himself into a deep hole with plenty of “what are you doing!” moments, and it just became an engaging book for me, start to finish.
October 7, 2022
Published in 2001 I can't help but wonder if this novel was the inspiration for "The Plot" by Jean Hanff Korelitz twenty years later. They are very similar. And I enjoyed them both!
What would you do if your eccentric roommate died in a freak accident, and you discovered a secret manuscript that is literally your life? All of the stories you told him, and he turned them into a novel? Add the fact that you are an aspiring writer who can't seem to get any words down on paper, and the temptation might just be too great. Next thing you know you're a millionaire being blackmailed and plotting murder. Well-written and darkly entertaining. I love discovering a good backlist title.
What would you do if your eccentric roommate died in a freak accident, and you discovered a secret manuscript that is literally your life? All of the stories you told him, and he turned them into a novel? Add the fact that you are an aspiring writer who can't seem to get any words down on paper, and the temptation might just be too great. Next thing you know you're a millionaire being blackmailed and plotting murder. Well-written and darkly entertaining. I love discovering a good backlist title.
July 25, 2021
Better than "The Plot"
When I heard about Jean Hanff Korelitz's recent book, The Plot, my mind was drawn back to a book I read in 2002, John Colapinto's About the Author. And how could I not recall that book, which I enjoyed so much? The original conceit of the two books is the same -- the narrator steals the work of another writer, thinking only he knows of the stolen work's existence. In both books, the narrator is wrong; someone else does know.
I decided to read The Plot and re-read About the Author at the same time. I discovered that, in my opinion, About the Author, was the better read. The Plot threw in a surprise twist at the end, which, to be frank, I didn't like that much. The Plot's antagonist (whose identity is not revealed until the end), has very little reason to do the things he or she (no spoilers here) does, leaving me to assume that she or he is a psychopath. Colapinto's characters have, for the most part, strong motivations for their actions. I enjoyed About the Author better.
Of course, this is just my opinion. The Plot is not a copy of About the Author; each author uses the conceit of plagiarism in different ways to different ends. Ms. Korelitz is a talented author and I liked her book, but I preferred Mr. Colapinto's take on the concept.
When I heard about Jean Hanff Korelitz's recent book, The Plot, my mind was drawn back to a book I read in 2002, John Colapinto's About the Author. And how could I not recall that book, which I enjoyed so much? The original conceit of the two books is the same -- the narrator steals the work of another writer, thinking only he knows of the stolen work's existence. In both books, the narrator is wrong; someone else does know.
I decided to read The Plot and re-read About the Author at the same time. I discovered that, in my opinion, About the Author, was the better read. The Plot threw in a surprise twist at the end, which, to be frank, I didn't like that much. The Plot's antagonist (whose identity is not revealed until the end), has very little reason to do the things he or she (no spoilers here) does, leaving me to assume that she or he is a psychopath. Colapinto's characters have, for the most part, strong motivations for their actions. I enjoyed About the Author better.
Of course, this is just my opinion. The Plot is not a copy of About the Author; each author uses the conceit of plagiarism in different ways to different ends. Ms. Korelitz is a talented author and I liked her book, but I preferred Mr. Colapinto's take on the concept.
February 27, 2011
An interesting premise, let down in execution. The protagonist is the literary equivalent of the woman who runs upstairs in the horror film; you know that no good can come out of her stupidity.
The interesting psychological terrain that the author carves out patiently in the first fifty or so pages is quickly washed away by predictable and not terribly impressive plot developments. The writing becomes formulaic and not particularly inspired. But the saving grace is the ending, which must have seemed farcical at the time but now, post James Frey, has an odd prescience to it.
One to pass on, I'd say.
The interesting psychological terrain that the author carves out patiently in the first fifty or so pages is quickly washed away by predictable and not terribly impressive plot developments. The writing becomes formulaic and not particularly inspired. But the saving grace is the ending, which must have seemed farcical at the time but now, post James Frey, has an odd prescience to it.
One to pass on, I'd say.
January 22, 2015
A terrific read about a young man, Cal Cunningham who works in a bookshop storeroom and dreams of the day when he will write his own book. A highly entertaining character who lives life to the full, gallivanting around Manhattan at night. His room mate Stewart though, is completely different, a quiet, diligent (and boring) law student. Then one day things change.....To write any more would ruin the plot.
A page turner and a great read.I loved it.
A page turner and a great read.I loved it.
January 28, 2009
This story is fast-paced and clever. One of those good reads you don’t want to put down. It’s got all the attributes of a Coen Bros. screenplay (dry humor, shocking visuals, irony)...maybe we’ll see it on the big screen someday?
April 9, 2013
The book within the book was so convincingly written by the unskilled author/narrator that I had to stop reading.
Read
September 9, 2016Damned near perfect suspense. Incredibly meaty and satisfying. Read it.
June 15, 2025
Highly entertaining, witty and succinct thriller! Loved every moment of this novel and wouldn't be sad if it was optioned for a film 🙃 Enjoyable read after the hard slog that is Anna Karenina.
PS. Feel like the main character is giving Joe Goldberg (You) vibes.
PS. Feel like the main character is giving Joe Goldberg (You) vibes.
August 19, 2022
goddamn
July 12, 2023
Mostly entertaining, but it goes on too long and gets awfully far-fetched by the end.
February 6, 2024
A bit predictable at times, nevertheless a great read.
September 2, 2024
Enjoyed reading it. Everybody has their character
flaws and that made me question who is bad or good or more over realise that those terms don’t exist for humans.
flaws and that made me question who is bad or good or more over realise that those terms don’t exist for humans.
August 3, 2021
Outstanding! On the edge of my seat the entire time I was reading this.
December 22, 2024
This would be a great film noir.
October 27, 2018
Fabulous, hilarious, very sardonic. About a guy who wants to be a writer (but never actually writes a word) who stumbles upon a piece of literary good fortune. Read it, definitely.
June 27, 2019
Wow. This was just what I needed. A literary romp, written with a brashness and eye for plot and pace, About the Author was an anecdote to my inability to find a book that held my attention. It's fun, suspenseful, and captivating. Hurrah.
September 7, 2021
A 2.5 from me. I don't remember the last time I read a book in which I so reviled the narrator. But the thing is, that seems to dull with time, because ALL of the characters are just loathesome by the end! The book does have an excellent tempo, and it is a page turner if for no other reason than you want to make sure that all of the characters get their comeuppance from the (frankly bananas!) imbroglio in which they find themselves. I will say this for it - it's not predictable!
July 1, 2020
Genijalan triler s neočekivanim obratom! Svaka preporuka!
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 233 reviews