Submitted by Geraldine McGowan, Jan 5, 2007 11:19

Adam Kirsch gets Martin Amis right. Also, Joan Didion. Their narcissism may even account for their being so well known, so often photographed compared to other writers. Also, the essay on Vidal's last book is entirely accurate, too. However, Vidal makes me laugh--the snobbery alone is worth the price of admission. I would say that Vidal does tend to champion people who have suffered, or at least notices that suffering exists. He does deal with flesh and blood.

Amis and Didion are cold and lack empathy -- which makes me prefer Vidal's latest over The Year of Magical Thinking--which I found false. It begins on a false note by emphasizing the word "ordinary," or the "ordinary instant," which makes no sense to me at all. Their daughter was so ill that they weren't sure if she would survive, and they had just returned from visiting her in the hospital. Certainly that wasn't an ordinary evening.

It's not possible to criticize a book that is dealing with such pain but I wondered about so many episodes within it. it made me wonder about Didion's believability in other contexts. Finally, I think that John Gregory Dunne was the better novelist...a richer, deeper writer.

But my point in writing is that I think Adam Kirsch is the best reviewer in the land right now.

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