I admit it. I'm wildly jealous of Mike Stark and the attention he gets on this site. I just learned that he's been asked to be a reporter for Air America. Sure, he gets in people's faces and asks tough questions but does he get any answers? Does a totally confrontational approach change anyone's mind? Will the DKos community support techniques that might actually pursuade Republicans and Independents to vote differently?
As I've mentioned before on this site, using art to promote social change is an exercise in emotional upheaval, giddiness, and angst. It requires time, attention, and obsession to reach even a modest audience. Today when I went to swim practice, I was incredibly nervous the entire time thinking about the book review that was scheduled to appear in the local Palo Alto paper. When I got home and looked online, I saw no mention of my book yet there was a review of Carly Fiorina's memoir instead.
I wound myself up into a frenzy of disappointment, ready to sell off my remaining inventory at fire sale prices or chuck them into a recycling dumpster. I felt glad I didn't have children so I didn't have to tell them that the ONLY way to get attention for ideas in this world is to be a celebrity (it doesn't matter what you do to get famous--look at Monica Lewinsky). I started composing a blog entry that answered my initial question, "Can one individual have an impact on the American political scene?" with a resounding NO! I had decided that if I didn't get a yes from one of the book distributors I've written to recently, I was just going to shut Raise the Bar Press down completely, give up, and try to earn enough money so someday I could again afford to make political contributions--money being the ONLY thing that political groups seem to want from me. I was definitely feeling bitter, no question, and I was trying to figure out how to NOT let that sense of overwhelming despair creep into the email I was going to write to the editor to ask what had happened.
So when I picked up the paper version of the November 1, 2006 Palo Alto Weekly and walked into my husband's office, grousing and whining, it caught me up short to see my picture on page 13.
There was a two-column review. It gave a good summary of the book's plot without giving away any of the twists, turns, and surprises. It mentioned EVERYONE's favorite moment (office cubicles converted into residential dwellings) which is illustrated in a funny video we put together and can be seen on YouTube or GoogleVideo.
The freelance reviewer, Jennifer Deitz Berry wrote,
"The book is a quick-moving, easy read. J.E. Schwartz's writing is clear and sharp and clips along from scene to scene. Joe's progression from an out-of-touch-with-the masses Republican to an increasingly sensitive and compassionate soul is handed adeptly and convincingly. And the author's imaginings of the worst-case-scenario if an extremist Republican administration came to power is at once plausible and creative enough to make for good fictional fodder."
IF an extremist Republican administration came to power? I guess losing 800 year old precedents like habeas corpus, and allowing warrantless wiretapping, torture, and the U.S. military to be used against American citizens aren't extreme enough. (Feedback from readers suggests that politically aware Democrats know my book highlights abuses that have already happened while many independent and Republican readers can't imagine these developments would ever come to pass. This is the main reason to buy and share the book with a conservative loved one and then have a conversation, BTW.)
I have to say that I found her criticisms encouraging. Ms. Berry felt the references to actual events and people a bit obvious (I certainly hope so, since so many people seem to miss the implications.)
She was disappointed with the:
"rigidness of the story telling." `Doublethink' shares similarities with other immensely popular books that are striving to teach the reader a lesson."
She went on to say,
"Just as Harriet Beecher Stowe is sometimes credited with helping turn the tide of popular opinion against slavery with `Uncle Tom's Cabin' prior to the Civil War, Schwartz is clearly on a mission to convince her readers that the current Republican platform is flawed and that a more liberal approach to government is the way to go."
Similarities with other immensely popular books? Sharing a mission to turn the tide against immoral and flawed policies with Harriet Beecher Stowe? If I can contribute in even a minor way to turning the tide against the neo-con agenda, I will die a happy and fulfilled woman.
The biggest points she missed are that I am asking the Democratic leadership to give us an inspiring alternative (not watered down Republicanism) and I'm begging mainstream Republicans to take their Party back from extremists who are trying to destroy the middle class and democracy as we know it.
Yes, I have a strong point of view. So did Ayn Rand, George Orwell, Sinclair Lewis, and the afore-mentioned Harriet Beecher Stowe when they wrote their novels that have influenced a great many people over the years. When did educating people though art stop being a reasonable, and even desirable, goal for fiction?
Ms. Berry concludes the review by saying the story is so black and white and the agenda so transparent, that "it's hard not to come away from the experience of reading this book feeling a little bit manipulated." As long as the readers are "manipulated" into making rational decisions at the voting booth next week, it's fine with me.
The review, "Fearing for the Future," will eventually be linked online from this page.
cross-posted on http://libertyandjustice4all.us/