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Title: Smart writer, bad book
Review: I have to agree with Michiko Kakutani's review in the New York Times yesterday, in which she referred to this book as: "a contrived, implausible and needlessly baroque melodrama, which reads as if it were written for serial publication, with nearly every chapter ending on a hokey cliffhanger."Mr. Carter is an accomplished, smart, admirable and even a brave writer in much of his non-fiction. This book, however, is a mess. I could not wait to read it after seeing the New Yorker profile a few weeks ago, but this is just a complete disappointment. The publisher's hype machine definitely got attention for this book - it's too bad that it just does not deliver. Stick to what you know, Mr. Carter.
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