Volume 35, Number 16 · October 27, 1988
The Exile
By Wilfrid Sheed
In Search of J.D. Salinger
by Ian Hamilton
Random House, 222 pp., $17.95
Sad things can happen when an author chooses the wrong subject: first the author suffers, then the reader, and finally the publisher, all together in a tiny whirlpool of pain. Ian Hamilton's book, In Search of J.D. Salinger, seems to have set in dolorous motion all of the above. The author's misunderstandings begin on page one, and his groans only a page or so later. And at the end Mr. Hamilton is still wearing his bitterness rather awkwardly on his sleeve, his publisher has become, as Hamilton puts it, 'preoccupied,' and the reader doesn't know which way to look.
Review, 6546 words
To read the full text of this piece, please choose one of the following options:
|
If you are already a subscriber to the Review's electronic edition, please sign in: |
To subscribe to the electronic edition, please press the button below. |
To purchase access to this article for $3, please press the button below. |