Hit Lit

May 28, 2012
The style of Hall's survey of the workings of popular fiction reflects its subject: "fast, emotionally charged⦠full of familiar character types⦠brimming with schmaltz," and "Written in earthy, simple, earnest, transparent prose." In this latest offering (after Mean High Tide), Hallâa prolific writer of fiction, poetry, and essaysâdissects the elements that make fiction popular in the American context, using 12 bestselling novels (including Gone With the Wind, The Godfather, and The Da Vinci Code) as case studies. Readers won't be surprised to hear that a bestselling novel "must be entertaining," or that sex and religion sell, which makes the word "code" in the book's subtitle a somewhat dubious designation. As a study in the building blocks of popularity, Hall's investigation resides in the awkward space between a how-to manual and an appreciation of the tropes of popular fiction. It's a sincere book, one with a real interest in validating the production and consumption of American popular literature. However, the book's earnestness cloys. Hall's attempts to reason out why we love what we love (and why it sells) often seem to merit an adjective more usually lobbed at the fiction he writes aboutâsuperficial.

March 15, 2012
What makes a bestselling novel? Longtime teacher and prolific thriller writer Hall (Dead Last, 2011, etc.) explores how certain books strike literary paydirt. The author animatedly shares a distinct fascination with books and reading that has taught him "secrets about the real world that I could discover nowhere else." Inspired and developed by a popular fiction course he began teaching more than two decades ago, Hall examines 12 of the most successful novels of the 20th century and "reverse-engineer[s]" them, mining their separate defining qualities and their comparative appeal to readers. Chosen for their dexterity and entertainment potential with consideration for gender diversity, location, familial dysfunction and their "strikingly similar techniques and themes," they range from melodramas like Gone with the Wind, Peyton Place and Valley of the Dolls to suspense/horror hits The Exorcist, Jaws and The Dead Zone, as well as classics like To Kill A Mockingbird and The Godfather. For readers, Hall writes, an emotional connection with a central character is paramount. Social taboos, time constraints and the "threat of danger" also draw (and hold) attention, as does secrecy and mystical mystery (see The Da Vinci Code and The Exorcist). Hall writes that the graphic sex in Peyton Place and Valley of the Dolls takes on a deeper adulterous subtext in The Bridges of Madison County and The Firm. Similarly, the author partially attributes the runaway successes of The Hunt for Red October and The Godfather to the irresistibility of the American Dream. Referential and cleverly elucidated, the book raises many good points about the precise methodology of bestselling novels--Hall's own work included. Passionately and thoroughly entertaining.

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