Western Book Roundup
Policing Nonfiction, and Boulder Writer’s “Just Do It” takes Manhattan
By Jenny Shank, 6-18-08
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Bryan Burrough recently reviewed Alexandra Fuller’s The Legend of Colton H. Bryant for the New York Times Book Review. Burrough admired Fuller’s poetic writing, but wasn’t convinced that the book should be classified as nonfiction because so much of it consists of dialogue that she wasn’t present for, and she admits in an author’s note that she “juggled time” and took other “narrative liberties.” Burrough writes:
“That’s not artistic license. It’s cheating. Not cheating in the sense that plagiarism is cheating. I don’t believe Fuller has committed a major literary felony here, but it’s clearly a misdemeanor, even if she comes out and admits it.”
I think Burrough’s critique is a fair one, but when I spoke to Fuller, she explained to me her intensive interview process with Bryant’s family and friends, many of whom acted out scenes of the way he spoke. Bryant’s family reviewed the book for accuracy before it was published. I was convinced that her methods produced a story that was “nonfiction” enough to label it as such—and it’s a valuable label to earn, as nonfiction books sell better and are a lot more likely to be reviewed (especially by the New York Times) than fiction is these days.
Furthermore, I was convinced by the power and beauty of Fuller’s writing that it was “true.” I was moved by Bryant’s story and don’t agree with Burrough’s belief that Bryant himself is “only mildly appealing” and “maybe four steps up the evolutionary ladder from the mentally challenged Leo DiCaprio of ‘What’s Eating Gilbert Grape.’”
It would be nice if everyone involved would call a truce in the nonfiction vs. fiction war, which has gotten so ridiculous that even humorists are expected to refrain from exaggerating. This conflict isn’t likely to end any time soon, though, because writers stand to gain so much more if they label their work “nonfiction.” There will always be authors who try to sneak invented stories into the much more lucrative nonfiction shelves at the bookstore.
There’s just one more line in Burrough’s review that I have to respond to: “In Fuller’s hands,” he writes, “Bryant wanders straight out of the new American West of ‘Brokeback Mountain,’ only without, you know, the gay stuff, and the love story and the drama.”
This sort of thing bugs me, when a reviewer compares a book set in the West to maybe the only other book set in the West that springs readily to his mind, even if they have nothing in common (apart from their Wyoming setting). You don’t see reviewers comparing Paul Auster’s books to Jonathan Lethem’s just because they both set their stories in Brooklyn.
But enough of my rant. The New York Times’ Janet Maslin doled out a rave to Colorado-based writer David Wroblewski’s The Story of Edgar Sawtelle this week, so I guess regional writers win some and lose some when they go up against The Gray Lady.
In other news, the L.A. Times’ book blog, Jacket Copy, recently shared some interesting views on the Old West vs. the New West as seen by Arizona poet Sally Ball.
And Boulder-based Denver Post reporter Doug Brown’s book about having sex with his wife Annie 101 days in a row at her suggestion (Just Do It) is hitting bookstores on June 26, as you may have heard from the Today Show, the New York Times, the Denver Post, and the New York Daily News. I wonder how much coverage the book will get once it’s actually available.
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