Author Humiliates Lazy Student Online, Creates Great Buzz
Trying to get out of required summer reading is, for some, as time-honored a back-to-school tradition as any. While the Internet may offer lazy students a simple method by which to outsource their work, it’s also given them a lot of exposure and allowed everyone, as with everything on the Internet, an opportunity to respond. Even, in the case of ♥ Idiot America ~ ϟƘƦІןן∑x ♥ (catchy name, bro!), the author whose very work he was attempting to avoid.
The above-mentioned future Rhodes Scholar took to a Yahoo! Message board earlier this week in an attempt to get out of doing his homework: reading The Boy Who Couldn’t Sleep And Never Had To by DC Pierson. In his original post, the student offered a dubious explanation as to why he couldn’t read and summarize a modest 240 pages, and then asked the online community if anyone could do it for him. He probably didn’t think the second reply would be from the author himself.
Pierson, whose novel (his first) is being published by Vintage Contemporaries, wrote a rather amusing response that was part editorial, part educational. It read, in part:
First off, I'm really excited that my book is being suggested for summer reading. On the other hand, I'm bummed out that you don't want to try and finish it, and not even because you think it's bad, but just because it seems like work instead of like fun. I'm not going to sit here and act like I didn't sometimes not read assigned books for class in high school. Even though it's referenced once in my book, the book you're avoiding reading, I've never actually read "The Scarlet Letter." So I'm sympathetic to your plight. But I think you'll find there's a ton more sex, swearing, and drugs in my book than anything else you have been or will be assigned in high school, and I don't mean in the way your teacher will tell you "You know, Shakespeare has more sex and violence than an R-rated movie!" I mean it's all there, in terms you will readily understand without having to Google them. Plus not once to I refer to anything as a "bare bodkin" or anything like that.
The post and Pierson’s reply have turned out to be a great move for word-of-mouth relating to The Boy Who Couldn’t Sleep and Never Had To, as the entire thread has gone semi-viral, sweeping across tumblr and other blogs in a matter of hours.
News by John Jarzemsky
John is a freelance writer who has been with LitReactor since the days of its halcyon youth, and also contributes film criticism to Twitch. He is currently working on several projects at once, and has been involved in many facets of creative and non-fiction writing from an early age. You can check out John's blog, the poorly titled Super Roller Disco Monkey Hullabaloo!, for other reviews, random musings, and ill-thought out rants.
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Huh, interesting story. Haven't heard of the book, will have to give it a look at some point.
A true testament to how many of my books I haven't read yet:
I didn't realize I already owned this book until I saw the picture of the cover below the article.
*sigh*
So I'm sure this isn't the case, but Pierson makes it sound like his book is only interesting to students because "there's a ton more sex, swearing, and drugs in [his] book than anything else you have been or will be assigned in high school." To be honest, I was really hoping for a smack down about how disrespectful and lazy this person was being by trying to condense something complex into a review, and that by asking for "everything important" the student was suggesting that the words themselves that make up the story that is meant to be read are not "important."
man, i wish i had thought of this idea. great press. :-)
I had the same thoughts, Pearl. Sex, swearing and drugs, hoo boy! We got an automatic winner here, folks! Quick, someone ring the trendy author bell!
Two things: Yeah I don't quite get how the author "humiliated" anyone, and the column says how the book "is being published" by Vintage Contemporaries, even though I read it 2 years ago. Is it getting a re-release?
Either way, I'm glad to see this book getting some press. It's one of the better novels to come out in recent years and it's a breath of fresh air. Definitely read it. The story's far deeper than "sex and swearing and drugs," especially the ending.