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35 of 35 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
The Author's Comments, October 8, 2002
This review is from: The Unofficial Patricia Cornwell Companion: A Guide to the Bestselling Author's Life and Work (Paperback)
Disregard the "star" rating: An author can't, and shouldn't, presume to rate his own work. That said, I'm happy, overall, with this book. I've done companion books on Michael Jordan, on censorship, on Stephen King, on Anne Rice -- and not on Vaughn Bode, as BOOKLIST erroneously stated. (The Bode book was an art index with the artist.) ... This 300-page companion book was by necessity cut: half the text and around 200 photos were intended for the original edition, scheduled for publication by Renaissance Books; the book was subsequently re-edited, and rewritten, by me for this edition from St. Martin's Minotaur. ... Info on Cornwell is difficult to find: I used virtually nothing from Cornwell's website (despite what BOOKLIST asserted) and I drew heavily on resources at the CHARLOTTE OBSERVER, at Davidson College (an archive of published material exists on her and her work) and resources in Richmond, Virginia (notably the local newspaper), where she has spent most of her writing life. The book itself pulls together a lot of information that took me years to find--don't kid yourself: You can't find all of this on the Internet, despite what some people want to believe. I believe Cornwell should tell her own story, hence my biographical information in this book is short; I've reprinted some litte-seen but illuminating interviews with Cornwell; I've pulled together quotes gleaned from dozens of hard-to-find sources; I've provided a chronology to her life and work, a book-by-book look with reprinted reviews, an "A to Z" of her life (real people, places and things), and a detailed appendices. Had the book included the original text, it would have been 600 pages long ... and I still had hundreds of pages of additional research material on hand that nobody has ever seen. In other words, this is a general overview to Cornwell and her work -- the first, and only, book of its kind on her. (Cornwell, it should be noted, declined to participate; I have used my own resources for research and I alone am responsible for any errors herein.) ... The reason I wanted to write this book is simple: After reading about her life, I felt there was much to celebrate -- her life is, in fact, as interesting as her fiction. The theme in all of my books is that we can overcome adversity by believing in ourselves and pushing ourselves to our limits; Cornwell has done this spectacularly well, and this book celebrates not only her life but her body of work. This book is not a hagiography; I call them as I see them. So, in the end, let me call it a literary celebration and leave it at that. I hope you like it.
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14 of 14 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Good for Hard Core Fans, a Pass for the Mildly Interested, December 28, 2003
This review is from: The Unofficial Patricia Cornwell Companion: A Guide to the Bestselling Author's Life and Work (Paperback)
This book does well what it does, which isn't much. I received it as a Christmas 2003 gift, and while I'm happy to have it, I will admit quite readily to its limitations. That is, for those like me (avid readers and fans of Cornwell BOOKS -- with maybe a vague curiosity in the author of the work), do we really need a companion book that's 50% summaries of books we've already read and 50% information that we've already seen or read in the media? Not really. However, for someone who's insatiably interested in authors as people, in tracking the progress of popular writers from obscurity to surpassing success, or requiring (for whatever reason) a nutshell expression of the literary and public interface of Patricia Cornwell, then this book is the ideal. The thing is, the book is really detailed in its provision of information... there are glossaries of terms Cornwell uses in her books, reviews of the books, published interviews with Cornwell, and the aforementioned summaries of all of her novels through Jack the Ripper: Case Closed. I learned a little more about her as a person, but mostly, the book asserts what I already knew. She is reclusive -- even shy -- by nature, passionate about helping others, and intrinsically private. Frankly, there's an awful lot of Cornwell in her novels, and perhaps it's through them that it's most possible to get to know her.
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5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Patricia Cornwell, a Portrait, February 4, 2003
This review is from: The Unofficial Patricia Cornwell Companion: A Guide to the Bestselling Author's Life and Work (Paperback)
Not since Beahm's Stephen King Companion has a book made a writer so accessible. Much like the earlier title, the Patricia Cornwell Companion is an equally fascinating read for folks just getting into Ms. Cornwell's work as well as for experts. Each chapter goes into depth about each book in Cornwell's canon, presenting a breakdown, listing each edition and awards won, reprinting reviews and interviews, and (my favorite) presenting an "A to Z" glossary of each book. The best feature of this book, though, are the Appendices, discussing the facts and details of the life of real-life forensic investigators. A terrific book by a consistantly terrific writer, The Patricia Cornwell companion is a worthy addition to anyone's Cornwell collection. -Kevin Quigley
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