Don't read the cover copy!

Robin Black's new novel, Life Drawing, tells the story of a marriage in peril, the marriage of painter Augusta (Gus) and her writer-husband, Owen. Gus, who narrates the story, tells us on the first page that Owen has recently died and the story to come explains how this came to be.

When I began reading the book, I knew very little about it. I know that Robin Black is a local author. I know that she is a good writer because I have read the short stories in her first book, If I loved you, I would tell you this. But other than knowing that Owen is dead, I have no inkling of what is to come. Although I am aware that the book, published in July, has received good reviews, I have purposely not read any of them, fearing spoilers. For the same reason, I also have assiduously avoided looking at the flap copy and the laudatory quotes on the book's jacket.

I hate reading cover copy on books: it always gives away more than I want to know about the plot, or portrays the story in ways that turn out to be inaccurate. The people who write cover copy (who are sometimes the book's editors but more often are marketing or publicity people) are looking for commercial hooks to entice readers; they're not really concerned about being strictly accurate. In many cases, they haven't even read the books about which they are writing — they've just read a synopsis prepared by someone else who read the book.

Unfortunately, I was about 50 pages into the book when, glancing down at the strikingly designed cover, something caught my eye. There was the name Karen Russell, a writer of note (who also happens to be Philly-based), who had "blurbed" the book, which is to say reviewed it and given an endorsement. And before I could stop myself, I read Karen Russell's quote, which ended with the words: "... a heart-stopping, jaw-dropping thriller," "A thriller? Jaw-dropping? Did Russell and I read the same book? I wondered.

Ok, I hear you. A guy is dead and the book is going to tell us how he died. That sounds like a thriller. But if you read Black's writing (and you should), you would know that it doesn't read like a thriller. In this novel, her writing is quiet. She proceeds gently and slowly through her tale, giving us a gradual accrual of detail to fill out the story. It reads like literary fiction. And if you looked at the categories in the Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication data on the copyright page (as we publishing nerds do), you'd see that the publisher doesn't call it a thriller either. It's listed as fiction about women painters and about marriage.

Later, after finishing the book, I checked the reviews, and the reviewers don't seem to think it's a thriller either. The closest they get to calling it that is when The New York Times says the book is "nicely calibrated for suspense." But as soon as I saw the Karen Russell quote, I began reading the book differently. I started piecing together clues, placing guesses as to what would happen and how Owen would meet his fate. So-and-so is a bad driver. Does he meet his end in a car accident? So-and-so has an abusive ex-husband. Is he killed in a fit of rage? Is this fit of rage brought on by infidelity? If so, with whom? The need to find the suspense made me rush through the book, looking for clues instead of savoring the beautiful prose.

When I finished (and learned that I had guessed correctly), I turned back to the Russell quote on the cover. "A magnificent literary achievement. . ." it begins. That is true. It's an exceedingly well-written book. But it's not a thriller, and having it cast that way had a negative effect on my reading of the book. I read it for plot instead of for literary value; I raced through so I could find out whodunit. What a shame. I hope when they publish it in paperback they'll take that quote off the cover.

Black writes beautifully. I encourage you to read this book, as well as Black's short-story collection. But as for those copywriters, don't read what they write!