At The New Yorker's Page-Turner weblog Alice Gregory considers why Jöel Dicker's The Truth About the Harry Quebert Affair has proven to be a Francophone Hit, American Letdown.
That it has fallen rather flat in the US seems clear, from both the critical reactions and the sales numbers:
That it has fallen rather flat in the US seems clear, from both the critical reactions and the sales numbers:
Based on current numbers acquired from Nielsen BookScan, the publishing industry's not-quite-reliable point-of-sale database, sales for The Truth About the Harry Quebert Affair in the U.S. (including e-books) look to be around thirteen thousand -- not great, especially considering the enormous run.I agree with Gregory that the novel is written for European sensibilities -- especially re. America -- and that's not what Americans are looking for:
The French, Dicker seems to think, are too French for themselves; meanwhile, Americans can't get enough of Frenchness. A French writer trying to be more American just doesn't export well.And she pegs the book pretty well, noting it's (dubious) readability:
That said, I read the thing -- which is heftier than a suburban county phone book -- in two days. Not that I could answer many questions about its mechanics now, or even just hours after putting it down. It's the sort of novel you recommend to a grieving friend or coworker out on jury duty -- somebody with temporarily disabled critical faculties trying to forget who or where they are.