Judge a Book by its Cover: blurb smurb

4.01.2009

blurb smurb

Okay, so the cover isn't all that horrible, but I'm just ferklempt at the blurb.

If you can't read the fine print, it says

"It's unlikely you'll read a more unusual novel this year."

In what way can you possibly parse this to make it a good thing?!?

4 comments:

BikerPuppy said...: Welcome back!!! I guess if you feel like you always read the same old story, repackaged, this could be a draw....; April 1, 2009 at 2:17 PM
Liam Hegarty said...: Of course no blurb can top Dylan Thomas's blurb for Flann O'Briens At-Swim-Two-Birds: "This is just the sort of book to give to your sister, if she is a loud dirty boozy girl."

I quoted the blurb from memory but I think I caught the gist of it.; April 2, 2009 at 8:23 PM
Nicole "Gidget" Kalstein said...: Oh, that really is terrible.

Can you imagine being the author of that book? Knowing how that mundane statement had to have been the best they could come up with?

"How do you like it?"
"It's certainly...UNUSUAL."

*Palmface*; April 3, 2009 at 2:03 AM
Scott Beeler said...: As BikerPuppy says, the blurb at least vouches for the fact that the book isn't the same-old-same-old, and as someone who has a curiosity for strange books, it would attract my attention. That said, you'd think that they could find a blurb that would convey that message in a more clearly positive sense.

One of my favorite blurb usages is on Iain Banks's debut novel _The Wasp Factory_, which is a tremendously controversial and enthralling/repellent book. Possibly on the principle that any publicity is good publicity, they mixed the most complimentary blurbs with the most horrified, including:

"It is a sick, sick world when the confidence and investment of an astute firm of publishers is justified by a work of unparalleled depravity."; April 3, 2009 at 10:53 PM