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Product Details
- Hardcover:
339 pages
; Dimensions (in inches): 1.04 x 9.74 x 6.18
-
Publisher: Simon & Schuster; (May 12, 2003)
-
ISBN:
0743227123
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Average Customer Review:
 Based on 35 reviews. Write a review.
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Amazon.com Sales Rank: 65,409
(Publishers and authors: improve your sales)
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Editorial Reviews
Amazon.com
Five years after his dismissal for fabricating stories, former New Republic hotshot reporter Stephen Glass released The Fabulist, a novel telling the story of a hotshot reporter named Stephen Glass who is fired after fabricating stories. And while the original incident provoked outrage, especially in Washington, The Fabulist is a mostly an empty exercise, devoid of strong characters, compelling action, or, finally, a reason to exist. Glass told lies, got caught, got fired, and then wrote a book about it. Why should we care? While interesting possibilities surely existed in tracing the arc of a career of fakery, Glass chooses instead to begin his story just as "Stephen" is being exposed for the first time. He fills the rest of the book by taking us through the character's dull and lengthy process of recovery as he seeks sanctuary with his parents, changes girlfriends, finds a new job and a new apartment, and avoids the spotlight of his scandal. The Fabulist is populated with characters seemingly pulled from the scrap heap of numerous failed sitcoms: the Egotistical Boss, the Girlfriend Who Doesn't Understand, the Pushy Older Jewish Lady with a Single Granddaughter, and the Comically Mysterious Co-workers. Many of the characters are reportedly based on real people and are portrayed, disappointingly, as jerks and fools more deserving of derision than apology. Perhaps the most distressing part of The Fabulist is that there's no heart and no center. The central character, the only hero we are offered, never seems to understand who he is. He lies, those lies get him in trouble, he searches for an explanation or redemption for his actions, but neither he nor we ever understand what is to be gained from it all. Could the enterprise have been clearer as a nonfiction tell-all testimonial? Maybe. Would it be believed coming from the pen of Stephen Glass? Maybe not. But regardless of what one thinks of the ethics of the situation, it's disappointing that a writer of Glass's skill and obvious imagination couldn't come up with a more interesting novel. After all, he's written so much fiction in the past. --John Moe
About the Author
Formerly a journalist, Stephen Glass is currently at work on his second novel.
Book Description
A NOVEL OF AN IGNOMINIOUS FALL, THE
RISE TO INFAMY, AND LIFE AFTER BOTH. • It is the summer of 1998, and Stephen Glass is a young magazine journalist whose work is gaining more and more acclaim -- until a rival magazine tells Glass's editor that it suspects one of his stories is fabricated. As his editor sorts out the truth, Glass is busy inventing it -- spinning rich and complex blends of fact and fiction, and exploiting the gray world in between. But Glass is caught. His fabulism is uncovered and his career instantly unravels. Worse, his editor learns that it's not the first time. Soon, a long history of invention, passed off as journalism, emerges. Glass suddenly becomes a household name -- an emblem of hubris and a flashpoint for Americans' distrust and dislike of the press. The media is consumed with the story: Once the young man who had been known for mastering the "takedown" article, Glass now becomes the one every journalist wants to take even further down. Once the hunter, Glass becomes the hunted -- the story of the year. Glass responds to this agonizing public scrutiny with a self-imposed exile, first near Chicago with his family and then in the anonymous suburbs of Washington, D.C. There, he begins a long personal struggle with his misdeeds, working out his own answers to the questions of why he fabricated, how he can learn to stop lying, and whether, at age twenty-five, he has destroyed his life irrevocably. Glass encounters a world far stranger than his own fabrications -- one populated by eccentric coworkers, ailing animals, angry masseuses, sexy librarians, competitive bingo players, synchronized swimmers, a soulful stripper, and a mysterious guardian angel who dresses only in purple. Meanwhile, Glass is chased by marauding journalists whose desperation and ruthlessness manage to match even his own. As he dodges his pursuers, Glass grasps at straws only to find that, wondrously, they sometimes hold. Despite himself, he rediscovers the Judaism he'd left far behind in Hebrew school, and falls helplessly in love with a young woman who turns out to have her own shameful past. In the end, The Fabulist is as much about family, friendship, religion, and love -- about getting through somehow, even when it seems impossible -- as it is about reality and fantasy. At once hilarious and harrowing, The Fabulist is one of the year's most provocative novels.
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Spotlight Reviews (What's this?)
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9 of 13 people found the following review helpful:
Just say no., November 29, 2003
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Reviewer:
shudson29
from Seattle, WA United States
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Your integrity is at stake. There's no story here unless you like reading the life and times of a pathetic impotent man that let his affliction beat the system. And then he wants you, the reader, to understand 'his side'. No brainier - just say no.
14 of 17 people found the following review helpful:
Stephen, Steve, Steve-o...., November 23, 2003
I admit I borrowed this book because it made me nauseous that you're still trying to make money from the ethical, well-intentioned editors and staff you bilked at TNR. I hoped I would like it, I hoped you would somehow redeem yourself. Having been a writer and reporter for most of my 20s and into my early 30s, I felt you downplayed in this work of "fiction" your betrayal of coworkers and friends. As an editor, I took it personally. To quote you directly, you said a great editor is one who would always stand behind you. And how did you repay the ones who did? Stevie, you could have taken them all down with you, you sniveling little crybaby. If I have one redeeming thing to say about this book, it is that your personality comes through in spades. Shame - you really are a talented writer. Were it not for your pathological need for attention, you coulda woulda mighta been someone afterall. Enjoy obscurity, dear. This book would have had to have been 100x better to keep you above the water line. If you're a writer, read it as a warning. An editor, as a training on what not to do with a liar. And as a reader, if you can weed through the "self aggrandizing poor me I just wanted people to love me" garbage, good for you. Just borrow this one and don't waste your $$ on your own copy.
All Customer Reviews
Average Customer Review:
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1 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
INTRIGUING, May 15, 2004
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Reviewer:
A reader
from USA
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After watching the movie "Shattered Glass" and reading the book I wonder why people are calling Stephen a horrible person. I found his story quite intriguing and the book was quite entertaining. I felt for Stephen because he couldn't stop lying. It's actually something that I was compelled by, all of us can understand the need to want to be the best, the one who is the center of attention, the one who everyone wants to be like. Stephen just took it too far. I can't, like other people, spit nasty comments about him because we don't know exactly why he did what he did. We don't know him, or what pushed him to that edge.
2 of 7 people found the following review helpful:
I'd give it a ZERO if i could, April 8, 2004
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Reviewer:
A reader
from Apex, NC United States
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how shameful to buy a book from a lying jerk...when will the world quit rewarding people who do not deserve the financial returns?!do not buy this book, see the movie, or support jerks like this in any way
6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:
5 stars?, March 18, 2004
Having read this book and observed Amazon custiomers' 5-star reviews one must wonder if Stephen Glass has visited this website.
15 of 18 people found the following review helpful:
Sorely Disappointed, January 25, 2004
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Reviewer:
zeusmim
from New York, NY
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I finally saw "Shattered Glass" this weekend, and I would agree with a previous reviewer who dubbed it the best movie about journalism since "All The President's Men." I was fascinated by the story of Stephen Glass, and I vowed to find and read his book; find and read the original article upon which the movie was based; find and read anything I could about Michael Kelly (whose tragic death last year astounded me); and find and read all of Glass' original articles.I started with Glass' book, which I found easily in a bookstore in New York City. I'm not sure what I expected to find within it -- his take on the incident, I suppose, or some insight as to why he lied . . . a flushed-out version of the story, written with color and flair, given his articles' reputations. I sat down on a plastic stool in the bookstore and all but threw the book on the floor after 15 pages. Pathetically boring. I believe I lost it when Allison, his girlfriend, told him to "f*** off." I thought to myself, "How trite, how ridiculously trite . . ." I flipped to the back of the book and realized that it was, entirely, just a retelling of his demise, devoid of personal analysis or color of any kind. I'd rather just go see the movie again. Mr. Glass missed an opportunity. Criminals and liars are fascinating, especially when expounding upon their own exploits. Rather than just reiterating the story, he should have a) written it in a more interesting fashion; and b) added some juicy introspection! I'm moving on to locate the article that is the movie's basis. Hopefully it will be more satisfying.
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