I’m curious where this story has gone since late 2003, when this gal got a pack of money (i.e., big advance) for her short story collection Lucky Girls.
Looking at the reviews on Amazon, most seem pretty negative. There are then the recriminations that people are jealous of Nell’s beauty, her talent, whatever; but having not read the book, the complaints do seem pretty consistent: that the fiction was flat, PC, unimpressive, etc.
I’ve never heard whether the book sold well or not, whether her fame continues or not, or whether she’s still going to launch that novel or not.
Can you update me and provide your opinions on the whole matter?
I’ve never even heard of her or the book, but I had just moved to Japan in late 2003 and didn’t have my own Internet set-up then so I could have missed the buzz. Was the advance so unusually large that it drew press, or was the author already famous for some other reason?
She had done the Harvard thing and gotten a primo deal at the New Yorker. They promoted one of her short stories big time, which led to a $1M advance. Zowie!
You have to wonder why they offered so much money–why anyone would offer that much money for any book. Doesn’t froo-fic (as I call it) barely make any money anyway?
At any rate, I don’t have an axe to grind either way–never read the book and never will–but I read this Salon article, it was a big deal at the time, and I’ve wondered what happened since.
Finished my contract and came home for the holidays, but I haven’t changed my location because I’m not sure if I’ll be staying in the US for long or not. Depends on whether I’m accepted into the grad school program I want. But enough about me.
Thanks for the link – this is the first I’ve heard of it.
Yeah, doesn’t look like they could have been expecting the next Harry Potter or anything…but if her New Yorker story/photo generated a lot of buzz I can see how they might think she was worth the risk. Maybe it’ll pay off for them yet.
Grad school in the US or Japan. Good luck with that. I came back to the US for grad school too and ended up going back to Japan. I love the country, my wife is Japanese, but the niggling little racisim and cramped housing finally got to me. Still, if I had a dokodemodoa I’d be going there on perhaps a daily basis to shop, walk around, and meet with friends and family. But enough about my opinions about Japan!
Doing some crude market research on Amazon, Lucky Girls (link)is currently ranked #95,783. In other words, it’s buried at the bottom. A best seller after one year shouldn’t look like that, should it?
In contrast, Sailing Alone Around the Room (link) is ranked #6,148. This book came out in 2002, apparently. And I have heard that Collins’ books sell in the 50,000 copies range.
