海角大神

Some European bestsellers like Stieg Larsson鈥檚 鈥淭he Girl with the Dragon Tattoo鈥� or the 鈥淗arry Potter鈥� series by J.K. Rowling come to America and quickly captivate US audiences as well, becoming global hits.

Others, however, seem to have more trouble translating, which is perhaps the case with Joel Dicker鈥檚 novel 鈥淭he Truth About the Harry Quebert Affair.鈥�

Dicker鈥檚 book became a runaway bestseller in Europe after it was first published in 2012 and received many positive reviews (Guardian critic Sam Leith wrote that it 鈥渄oes nothing interesting in literary terms at all鈥� but said he felt alone in disliking the book 鈥� 鈥淪o many critics seem to have been knocked on their behinds by Dicker's novel that I can't be sure I'm not missing something鈥� they see a masterpiece.鈥�). It received the literary prize the聽Grand Prix du Roman de l鈥橝cad茅mie and was on the shortlist for the prestigious Prix Goncourt.

However, 鈥淨uebert鈥� has done less well in terms of sales in the US, appearing on the New York Times trade paperback fiction bestseller list for the week of June 15 in eighth place but disappearing after that, and popping up on the IndieBound trade paperback fiction list for the week of June 5, listed at number 16 in the 鈥渙n the rise鈥� category, but also falling off after that. New Yorker聽writer Alice Gregory wrote that, according to Nielsen BookScan,聽"Quebert" had sold 13,000 copies by June 26 (though Gregory called the Nielsen BookScan "not-quite-reliable"). The sales numbers, said Gregory, are "by no means meager, but also not mind-blowing, especially considering the enormous run."

In addition, some critics have loved the book but others have given it a more mixed reception. Amazon picked the novel as one of their best books of May and IndieBound selected it as an Indie Next List Great Read, while NYT critic Chelsea Cain called the book 鈥渦nimpeachably terrific.鈥�

鈥淚f Norman Mailer had been accused of murder and Truman Capote had collaborated with Dominick Dunne on a tell-all about it, the result might have turned out something like this,鈥� she wrote.聽

However, others who were less enamored included Washington Post writer Richard Lipez, who found the book to be 鈥渒ind of enjoyable in a corn-syrupy way. It鈥檚 hard to tell how much the author means for readers to take seriously in this tale鈥� There are some nice satirical touches about small-town New England life鈥� Most of the humor, though, is inadvertent鈥� Dicker鈥檚 big finish鈥� is neatly and entertainingly pulled off. To get to this borderline-plausible conclusion, however, readers must keep straight innumerable flashbacks and flash-forwards and novels within novels, many of which feel redundant.鈥� However, Lipez noted that the book 鈥渃hurns along at such a good clip and is rendered with such high emotion and apparent deep conviction鈥� that he believes the book will do well in terms of sales.聽

NPR writer Heller McAlpin was unimpressed with the book. 鈥淭he writing鈥� is disappointingly pedestrian,鈥� she wrote. 鈥淲hile the doozy of a story is practically guaranteed to hook you, the more quickly you turn the pages and gloss over the prose, the better鈥� its young Swiss author has mastered the art of whiplash plot twists, [but] the clich茅s pile up even more quickly than the bodies.鈥澛�

Meanwhile, Entertainment Weekly critic Darren Franich gave the book a C grade.

鈥淨uebert聽is a really, truly, wonderfully bad book filled with more than 600 pages of purple prose and nonsense twists, of dialogue ripped straight out of a Roy Lichtenstein thought balloon,鈥� he wrote. 鈥淭he plot thickens at the breakneck pace of bread rising. I would advise skipping the first half to get to the good stuff, but then you'd miss out on some utterly pretentious showmanship.鈥�