As I say in an update to my own review of The Believers, it is astonishing that two critics can read the same novel to diametrically opposite conclusions. I have replied to your views in my update, but I have to admit that there is every chance you are right and I am wrong.
The basic difference between us, I think, is this. While we are both aware of what you call “fashionable cynicism,” you attribute it to Zoë Heller and I attribute it to the age, while crediting her with seeking to get out from under its oppressive rule. Well, read what I have written and tell me where I have gone astray. You are one of the few critics whose opinion makes me worry that my own is deeply mistaken.
Great review—but wrong, I think
Ron,
As I say in an update to my own review of The Believers, it is astonishing that two critics can read the same novel to diametrically opposite conclusions. I have replied to your views in my update, but I have to admit that there is every chance you are right and I am wrong.
The basic difference between us, I think, is this. While we are both aware of what you call “fashionable cynicism,” you attribute it to Zoë Heller and I attribute it to the age, while crediting her with seeking to get out from under its oppressive rule. Well, read what I have written and tell me where I have gone astray. You are one of the few critics whose opinion makes me worry that my own is deeply mistaken.