Last Minute Pitch for Lily King! With Lots of Asides...

So I was talking to Martin at Grove Atlantic about our Lily King event tonight (Wednesday, 7/14, 7 PM) and saying I needed to do a little more to help the book. Who's reviewing it? What can I link to?

Martin responded that the feature magazines have been very hot on Father of the Rain. They've really gotten great response. There's a mention of Vogue. Ah, a link to their website!

Interestingly enough, they do put content on the site, but the closest I can get to info about a book is the movie version of The Girl Who Played with Fire (opens this Friday at the Downer Theatre). Other movies, yes. Music, yes. Market research must have indicated that book pieces aren't worth posting. In any case, I don't find it. They probably put up content later, after the magazine sales are over. That seems to make sense to me, but a lot of news media seemed to think it was ok to post the Rolling Stone piece on Robert Gates in its entirety because they hadn't put it up themselves (because they wanted to...sell magazines.) Pinch me. Anyway, it's up now.

I check Elle. Sit through an ad for Estee Lauder night cream. No, that's creme*. I found it! Here's Rachel Rosenblit's teaser of an opening.

"You know that moment when the ingénue in the horror movie heads downstairs to check the radiator, and you’re screaming, dumbfounded, at the screen? That’s the sort of protective rage you feel for Daley Amory, the narrator of Lily King’s novel Father of the Rain. . . . "

And here's where she brings it all home...

"King is brilliant when writing from the eyes of a tween, all self-conscious curiosity but bright and hopeful as a starry sky. And as Daley grows up and learns how to trust and to love in spite of herself, King cuts a fine, fluid line to the melancholy truth: Even when we’re grown and on our own— wives, mothers, CEOs—we still long to be someone’s daughter. The dream of an absent ideal father is like a thick, soft blanket; find one to burrow under, and enjoy.” —Rachel Rosenblit, Elle (You can read the full review if you follow the link.)

Hey, I can use this!

Magazines, who'd a thunk it? (Note: our magazine sales are up over last year, though they took a big drop in the changeover as we cut out a vendor and some display space, to make room for our book club/meeting table. Sharon's been bringing in new titles regularly, from Art News to Christianity Today. Oh, and yes, I requested a few more puzzle magazines. I believe that obsession gets its own post.)

Here are some more great excerpts from magazine reviews.

“Spellbinding . . . Marvelous . . . A story of high drama in he court of Nixon-era New England aristocracy . . . King brilliantly captures the gravitational pull of the past and the way it can eclipse the promise of the present. . . . You won’t be able to stop reading this book, but when you do finally finish the last delicious page and look up, you will see families in a clearer and more forgiving way.” —Susan Cheever, Vanity Fair

“Luminous . . . Uplifting . . . Fresh, with vividly drawn characters . . . and a clear eye for the details of their singularly messed-up relationships.” —Karen Holt, O, the Oprah Magazine

“King infuses soul into this tale of a family torn apart by abuse.”
—Marie Claire (Summer Reads)

More from me about Father of the Rain in this Father's Day post.

*Interestingly enough, if you look for the definition of "creme", most sites lead you back to "cream." The only English reference is for "creme de la creme." So then I check my leatherette desk edition of the Webster's New World Dictionary (one of several dictionaries still lying around the house) and "creme" means either "cream" or "thick liqueur." But why doesn't anyone tell you when you use "creme" and when you use "cream" because I know they are not exactly the same. But I still thought the print edition was more clear.