A BOOK IN NEED OF A GOOD EDITOR

This thoughtful piece by Cyntgis Crossen writing in the Wall Street Journal's new Book Lovers column.

Last week I spent too much time finishing a book. It was long (576 pages), and I have a strict no-skimming rule. So I read every word of "A Fraction of the Whole," a first novel by an Australian author, Steve Toltz.

The book and I go back a couple of months. When it was short-listed for the Man Booker Prize in early September, I borrowed it from my local library. But before I opened it, I read a convincingly tepid review and returned it unread. Then, browsing in a bookstore recently for airplane reading, I saw it in paperback and succumbed to its siren calls.

The cover quotes were irresistible -- "Riotously funny," said my own newspaper; "Devastatingly funny," according to The Seattle Times; "Laugh-out-loud funny," declared Entertainment Weekly. I worried about a quote comparing it to "A Confederacy of Dunces," which I thought was riotously unfunny. But the blurbers and reviewers were so enthusiastic -- Mr. Toltz was compared to Mark Twain, John Irving, Martin Amis, Tom Robbins and even Charles Dickens. What more could I want?
A plot, compelling voices, believable characters and an editor with a machete for starters. There were a lot of funny moments and lines, and Mr. Toltz is obviously an exceptionally imaginative and witty guy, but where were his minders?

Someone should have sat him down in an interrogation room and offered a plea bargain: Lose 100 pages or go to jail.

Editors are the invisible heroes of the publishing industry, and as publishing companies cut corners, they cut editors. On the most basic level, that means more typos, grammatical errors and factual contradictions. A novel I read recently had a character die in two different years. How could no one have noticed? Because the person whose job used to be Prissy Fuss has been let go. A little slippage of the rules here or there isn't going to hurt anyone, I imagine the deciders deciding.
But without strong editors, writers are like cars with accelerators but no brakes. While reading many of Mr. Toltz's long passages, I pictured him at his computer (or typewriter), entertaining himself with his own wit and wisdom. That's as it should be.

Then an editor should tell him, "Steve, you're a great writer (always start with the praise), but let's do some judicious whittling and make this fabulous book (more praise) even better." It's hard work for both author and editor, but it's only fair to those of us who still invest in books.

All authors and publishers should read Crossen's valuable comments in full at the WSJ online.