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About the Author: A Novel
 
 
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About the Author: A Novel (Paperback)

~ (Author) "For reasons that will become obvious, I find it difficult to write about Stewart..." (more)
Key Phrases: New York, New Halcyon, Janet Greene (more...)
4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (70 customer reviews)
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Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

About the Author's Cal Cunningham calls himself a writer, but he's too busy--or too scared--to sit down and actually write anything. He spends his days working as a bookstore stock boy and his nights chasing tail in the bars of Manhattan. Sunday mornings, he spins tales about his conquests to his roommate, a reclusive, hard-working law student named Stewart Church. When Stewart is killed in auto accident, Cal finds in Stewart's desk a novel--a brilliant novel--based on Cal's own exploits. Cal is appalled, and then inspired. He sends the novel off to New York's leading literary agent, claiming it as his own. The book is a smash hit, and as he claims the rewards of literary lionization, Cal convinces himself that he is, really, at bottom, responsible for the writing of the book, if not exactly its author. Things get a bit more complicated when he hooks up with Stewart's ex-girlfriend Janet, eventually marrying her.

The novel convincingly portrays Cal's determined delusion that everything has worked out just as it was meant to be. As he kisses Janet, he thinks how "Stewart's ghost had turned out to be a benevolent specter after all, his spirit helping to shape my destiny, to guide both Janet and me to this moment." Which is all well and good, till Cal discovers that someone else is in possession of a copy of the original manuscript. Author John Colapinto weaves together a farcical tale of literary ambition and a cat-and-mouse thriller as Cal and his blackmailer pursue each other to the very death. --Claire Dederer --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.



From Publishers Weekly

Cal Cunningham, the engaging, "panther-thin" protagonist of Colapinto's intrepid first foray into fiction (after his nonfictional debut As Nature Made Him) is an author with writer's block, struggling to acquire the "monastic absorption" needed to pen his autobiography and be freed from a meager existence as a bookstore stock boy. His dreams of success are further dashed when reclusive law student-roommate Stewart presents a brilliant short story he's written, and after some digging on the sly, Cal discovers a scandalous, novel-length manuscript recounting the sordid details of his own womanizing life. When Stewart is killed in a biking accident, a resentful, envious Cal adopts the manuscript, Almost Like Suicide, as his own and courts Stewart's old girlfriend Janet, too. Aided by flawlessly rendered literary agent Blackie Yeager, who sells the novel for millions, Cal lands a monetary and media windfall. Eventually moving to New Halcyon, Vt., to marry Janet, his perfect if duplicitous life is interrupted by the arrival of a stranger claiming to have Stewart's laptop computer containing the original manuscript; Cal's messy, disastrous comeuppance, involving blackmail and murder, takes over the second half of the novel. Publishing-savvy readers (and those who enjoyed Donald Westlake's The Hook) will find Colapinto's depiction of Cal's book tour and the many "particularly excruciating" television interviews he must undergo hilariously apropos. Cal's surplus of manic rationalizations overwhelm some taut, well-realized suspenseful moments, and Colapinto's feel-good though immensely implausible ending will sweetly satisfy, but not without leaving a bitter aftertaste of injustice. Still, this is a fine first effort from an emerging voice in fiction.

Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
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Product Details

  • Paperback: 272 pages
  • Publisher: Harper Perennial (July 23, 2002)
  • Language: English
  • ISBN-10: 0060932171
  • ISBN-13: 978-0060932176
  • Product Dimensions: 8 x 5.3 x 0.6 inches
  • Shipping Weight: 7 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
  • Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (70 customer reviews)
  • Amazon.com Sales Rank: #297,902 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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More About the Author

John Colapinto
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Front Cover | First Pages | Back Cover | Surprise Me!
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Inside This Book (learn more)
First Sentence:
For reasons that will become obvious, I find it difficult to write about Stewart. Read the first page
Key Phrases - Capitalized Phrases (CAPs): (learn more)
New York, New Halcyon, Janet Greene, Pleasant View, Snak Shak, Washington Heights, Cal Cunningham, Blackie Yaeger, Stewart Church, Halcyon Inn, Harrington's Farm, Phoenix Books, River Road, Sally Monroe, Cliffwood Road, Detective Cantucci, Fort Tryon Park, Sirloin Saloon, Thirty-fourth Precinct, Burlington Airport, Lake Sylvan, Marshall Weibe, Ned Bailey
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Average Customer Review
4.3 out of 5 stars (70 customer reviews)
 
 
 
 
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17 of 17 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars Colapinto is a major find, August 16, 2001
This review is from: About the Author (Hardcover)
With "About The Author," John Colapinto has taken the traditional tired old thriller and turned it on its head. In the current climate of cookie-cutter, mass-market, assembly-line novels, this one's a true original. It's been a while since I've been truly excited about the arrival of a new author.

In the book, Cal Cunningham, a struggling, impoverished wanna-be author in New York City is startled and seething with jealousy over the fact that his law student roommate has written a flawless novel of his own. When the roommate dies suddenly in a traffic accident, Cal decides to have the novel published as his own work. Fame and fortune ensue, but of course, we all know that it's going to come back to haunt him or else this wouldn't be much of a story. How the book progresses from this point I won't divulge (unlike some reviewers who insist on putting spoilers in every book and film review they post)-- it's a wild, fun, nail-biting ride, and I wouldn't dream of depriving a single reader of the pleasure.

Colapinto's characters are excellently written, particularly the character of Cal, who has a biting sense of humor and is a refreshing change of pace -- most thillers' narrators are supermen who are daring and unflinching in the face of danger...not Cal, who's a scheming coward but you can't help but love him anyway. The character who ends up threatening to expose him (I won't give that one away, either) is evil, conniving, greedy and impossible to ignore...you keep wondering what kind of fresh hell Cal will be put through next.

Funny, exciting, thrilling, and with the perfect ending, "About the Author" is the best book I've read in a long time. I can't wait to read more from John Colapinto.

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9 of 10 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars "PAGE-TURNER OF THE YEAR" FOR ME, October 28, 2001
By Nancy Martin (Pennsylvania (orig. NY)) - See all my reviews
This review is from: About the Author (Hardcover)
When I heard about this book, I assumed it was another non-fiction book by Colapinto. The title alone is suggestive of a non-fiction work. Well, it certainly isn't in that genre. It's a psychological thriller of the very best kind...not a dark thriller but more of a light one. It's like a roller coaster ride -- a trip to hell and back. Colapinto has managed to take all of my favorite book elements and combine them in one story. I couldn't put it down trying to figure out just what would happen next.

The premise is great. Cal Cunningham is a struggling writer who has hopes of one day penning a great novel. It's no surprise that he hasn't been successful since, for the past two years, he hasn't written a thing...not one page. He thinks about it all the time, and imagines himself as a best-selling author, but hasn't been motivated yet to put that pen to page.

He spends his days at his job stacking books in a local bookstore. At nights, he spends his time carousing with loose women in tawdry bars. He shares a cramped NYC apartment with his roommate Stewart Church, a law school student. Stewart is such a bore and spends most of his time typing away on his laptop in the seclusion of his bedroom. When he comes up for air on the weekends, Cal regales him with stories of his ventures into the wild nightlife of New York. Stewart hangs on every word...and that's all I'm going to tell you. What happens next is unbelievable. One little event, one little decision made, one little lapse in judgment will put Cal on the ride of his life. Unfortunately, he might not be able to jump off when he wants to.

This is the story of how Cal Cunningham becomes a best-selling author. It's by far the page-turner of the year for me reminiscent of other favorite page-turners like Scott Smith's A Simple Plan and Douglas Kennedy's The Big Picture. I can't say enough about this book other than "READ IT." I found out something "about the author" John Colapinto - not only is he terrific but he's also found a new fan in this reader.

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6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars Flawed character brilliantly conceived, September 21, 2002
By Dan Witte (Forest Park, IL USA) - See all my reviews
The cover blurbs and book reviews position Colapinto's first novel as a suspense thriller, but I hate to see it tossed into such an overcrowded, underachieving genre. Likewise, I think the critical comparisons to Hitchcock are only valid insofar as Colapinto's careful attention to character development make the protagonist's increasingly outrageous behavior believable. My primary impression of this book, in fact, is that it is a character study, more akin to books like "A Confederacy of Dunces," "Illywhacker," and "Tomcat In Love" than it would be to an Elmore Leonard or James Patterson "suspense thriller." And what a character Cal Cunningham is! At turns pathetic, sympathetic, despicable and delusional, I thoroughly enjoyed (and related to) his callous rationalization process as he basically steals another writer's work and muse -- and not just any other writer, but his dead roommate! When a woman from his past shows up with proof that he is not the author of the book that has propelled him to literary fame, and subsequently threatens to ruin him, his paranoia goes supernova, and in my opinion that is when this book really hits full stride. Although I thought that things concluded a little too tidily, the story is generally so cynical and the character so depraved that to me it was a comparatively small blemish on an otherwise brilliant book. I'm recommending it to everyone.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews

4.0 out of 5 stars A cute (but exciting) story to read
The scenario as per the book cover makes a lot of the Hitchcock type storyline and to be fair it has many of those elements - a flawed would be author who because of fate gets a... Read more
Published 1 month ago by Siriam

5.0 out of 5 stars A thrilling and witty page-turner
This book is a witty page turner, thrilling to the end. Colapinto takes us on a cat-and-mouse chase which ensues from an ambitious act. Read more
Published 8 months ago by R. Singh

4.0 out of 5 stars About The Author
This novel , About The Author, was read for a book club that I belong to.
It was very interesting and the club members all had a lively conversation
about this plot... Read more
Published on October 21, 2007 by Barbara E. Ennis

4.0 out of 5 stars One of a kind (more or less)
This is a unique book, constructed out of common elements. It is part Hitchcockian 'average guy meets apparently average guy and disasters ensue', part crime novel, part love... Read more
Published on December 5, 2006 by Richard B. Schwartz

5.0 out of 5 stars A Totally Original Idea, Brilliantly Executed -- A Really Fun Read
Forget Jonathan Frey - - About the Author is the ultimate decent into plagaristic madness, author larceny and pure publishing mayhem. Read more
Published on January 28, 2006 by chip the book buff

5.0 out of 5 stars A terrific read!
Great story idea well developed with good characters. I don't understand why this book didn't make all the best seller lists and turn Colapinto into popular author.
Published on July 2, 2005 by Susan Kibler

4.0 out of 5 stars Psychological thriller with substance
Colapinto's "About the Author" is a fun to read, intense psychological thriller that will strike chords (and funny bones) with artists and authors - and those interested in... Read more
Published on September 4, 2004 by David Durovy

5.0 out of 5 stars couldn't put this one down!
I read this book over a year ago, and had honestly quite forgotten about it until I pulled all my books off the shelf to paint. Read more
Published on July 9, 2004

5.0 out of 5 stars Pump that star rating
As you can see (below), some demented reader has claimed authorship of my book, About the Author. Much worse, he gave my novel one star, thereby dragging my overall rating down... Read more
Published on July 5, 2004 by John Colapinto

1.0 out of 5 stars Stolen Ideas
Hello, I am the actual owner of about the author. I own the copyright, and have reserved the right to the Title "About the Author" Nither John Colapinto nor his... Read more
Published on July 5, 2004 by Justin

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