Egan's debut, an odd blend of young adult melodrama and unsuccessful metafiction, winds itself into knots of empty story lines. Recognizing that their dullard daughter, Carley, needs an academic boost, Gretchen and Francis Wells hire author Bree McEnroy to write a book to Carley's specifications. Though Carley's love for reality television and Bree's fondness for self-conscious literary tropes should, in theory, unite to make a delightful story-within-a-story, it is often neglected or underwritten. Meanwhile, the cardboard secondary cast floats around Bree and Carley: there's Hunter, Carley's crush, whose alcoholic rakishness, we are assured, masks a poet's interior; Carley's social-climbing mother and philandering father; and Justin, Bree's college chum, who has become, on dubious merit, a literary star. Carley and Hunter's friendship is jeopardized by both his addictions and her unrequited adoration, and Bree and Justin reconcile. Plagued by thin, when not wildly inconsistent, characterization from the start, the narrative's tendency to flit from character to character without revealing anything memorable or insightful further blurs the point. Unfortunately, there isn't enough heart to redeem the dopiness. (May)
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Brimming with literary allusions, commentary on the rich and famous, and the necessary ingredients for a successful novel, Gibson's ingenious debut succeeds on many levels.
Carley Wells, nearly 16, has reportedly never met a book she likes. Aghast, her nouveaux riches parents decide that their daughter needs a "passion," and so to ensure that she does not remain intellectually impoverished, they commission a previously underappreciated writer to live at their estate and write a book to Carley's specifications. As she finds herself drawn into the story being assembled, Carley's life is dramatically altered. Complications persist in the form of Hunter, Carley's F. Scott Fitzgerald-obsessed best friend bent on self-destruction, and Bree, the hired novelist now separated from her previous existence. From the opening sentence of this strongly sardonic satire, Gibson's debut, it is clear that nothing is sacred. Whether examining trendy charity functions or the muted morals of the so-very-rich, her acerbic, acidic book is right on the money. The major surprise is that the novel also has a heart, and Carley leaps off the page as the most real character. Gibson's inventive language also enlivens this overly long novel; especially winning is the construction of the novel-within-the-novel. Readers fond of Claire Messaud and Marisha Pessl might want to try Gibson's bold outing. [See Prepub Alert, LJ1/09.]
—Andrea Tarr
Debut novelist Gibson attempts to combine a snarky lampoon of super and nouveau riche cultural striving with a heartfelt coming-of-age story. She throws in a metafictional critique of metafiction for good measure. In the Long Island, N.Y., town of Fox Glen, the wealthy, generally doltish residents vie to show how highbrow they are. So it's not much of a stretch when a sweetly boorish bra-manufacturing magnate and his cartoonishly cold wife hire a writer to create a book for their daughter Carley's sweet-sixteen party. The book will be a cultural coup. Besides, Carley's teachers have complained about her lack of intellect, and Carley's parents hope that involving her in the writing will prove motivating. Overweight Carley hates books and has few friends except Hunter-a big exception since he's the most popular boy in the high school. A handsome if sickly lothario who drinks to serious excess when he isn't reading or working on his application essay for Princeton, Hunter considers Carley his best friend and depends on her for all his platonic emotional needs. Her feelings are less platonic, and she repeatedly forgives him for behaving badly under the influence. Bree, the starving author of a novel, is hired to write Carley's book, thanks to Justin, a famous writer living in Fox Glen seclusion since a fan attacked him. Justin knew Bree in college, treated her badly and has been secretly atoning every since. As Justin and Bree skirt around their relationship, they genuinely try to help Carley, but Carley cannot face that Hunter's addiction to alcohol and drugs is becoming worse. The drunken scenes, the acting outs and the apologies repeat themselves in various forms until the reader losestrack. Hunter's downward spiral is offset by various witticisms surrounding Carley's SAT vocabulary malapropisms; the excessively obnoxious behavior of various parents and rich friends; and Bree, Justin and Hunter's literary debates. Ambitious but unconvincing mix of uplift, tragedy and cartoonish satire. Agent: Susan Golomb/Susan Golomb Agency
Brimming with literary allusions, commentary on the rich and famous, and the necessary ingredients for a successful novel, Gibson's ingenious debut succeeds on many levels."
-Booklist
"Gibson creates a literary work that is fresh, complex and compelling.... All the themes in the novel are richly drawn and universal - love, "saving" someone, the question of what reality really is, loneliness, betrayal. The conflicting themes create a palpable sense of tension as the end of the book approaches. Which will prevail - love or loneliness? Salvation or betrayal? The best thing a book can do is to make its reader think. Just as Carly is transformed as she works on "her" novel, Gibson's How To Buy a Love of Reading gives the reader equal opportunity to embark on a worthy, entertaining mental stretch."
-Fort Worth Star-Telegram
"From the opening sentence of this strongly sardonic satire, Gibson's debut, it is clear that nothing is sacred. Whether examining trendy charity functions or the muted morals of the so-very-rich, her acerbic, acidic book is right on the money. The major surprise is that the novel also has a heart, and Carley leaps off the page as the most real character....Readers fond of Claire Messaud and Marisha Pessl might want to try Gibson's bold outing."
-Library Journal
"Ladies and gentlemen, please welcome to the stage Tanya Egan Gibson, a fresh and funny new voice in the world of fiction."
-Mark Childress, author of Crazy in Alabama and One Mississippi
"What a page-turner! Propelled by razor-sharp wit, Gibson lovingly skewers two self- obsessed classes: the upper crust and the literary. I'd say you can buy a love of reading yourself, very easily, right now."
- Glen David Gold, author of Carter Beats the Devil and Sunnyside
"At last, a novel for those of us who love both Buffy the Vampire Slayer and F. Scott Fitzgerald. Emotions that rise to the level of myth, a heroine who faces a daunting challenge, a passion that surpasses self-interest or reason-they're all here, and so are ironic commentary, gorgeous prose, and an inspiring argument for the necessity of stories. Tanya Egan Gibson's remarkable debut proves her case: that stories have power, and that we cannot do without them in our ongoing struggle to excavate the secrets of the human heart."
-Leah Stewart, author of The Myth of You and Me
"How to Buy a Love of Reading is a wholly original and wonderful first novel about growing up in the strangest of worlds, and the incredible power of storytelling to make that world livable. In her lovely debut, Tanya Egan Gibson blends humor and sentiment in the most surprising of ways. The story she weaves is a joy from start to finish."
-Laura Dave, author of The Divorce Party and London is the Best City in America
"Carley Wells, the protagonist of Tanya Egan Gibson's How to Buy a Love of Reading, is at once a sympathetic antihero and a much appreciated antidote to the cultural pretensions of Long Island's aristocracy. This is satire with a heart."
-Will Allison, author of What You Have Left
