Tuesday, September 9, 2008

The Writing Class by Jincy Willett

From Publishers Weekly....Can a class of wannabe novelists solve a murder in their midst? That's the premise of this dark comedy of the absurd from Willett (Winner of the National Book Award), a boisterous satire of pseudointellectuals, impotent writers and the adult extension programs of public universities. The only things Amy Gallup, a once-noted California author, has published in years are blurbs of other writers' work. Amy's only income comes from teaching fiction writing to a motley collection of varyingly talented prepublished adults. Someone in the class is making threatening phone calls and sending extremely cruel notes to other students. When two of the students are murdered, a deep sense of danger takes hold. Yet the class goes on. .. The tension is so strong that readers can hardly resist the temptation to peek ahead and see which student is the killer.

This got some great reviews on amazon. For me it was just okay, but I usually don't read books like this. Got it in a 7 free books and buy 2 over 2 years. This is usually when I try different authors/genres.

I found myself using the speed reading technique to get thru it. There are some really nice touches and the ending is very satisfying.

I've never been part of an ongoing writing class - been to plenty (and I mean plenty) of one to two day workshops. Anyone have a funny story about a class they took or workshop?

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