There are many reasons why one’s book might bomb, and many places for a sore author to potentially spread the blame. Ian McEwan has elected to fault “American apathy” for his latest book’s underwhelming performance, reports The Telegraph. We as a nation were unready to embrace a satire about global warming.
McEwan addressed the issue at a Telegraph-sponsored festival in Devon:
“I was knocked off my pedestal. It was amazing,” he said. “It was odd because I did a book tour in the States then crossed the border to Canada and got the best press I had ever had for a novel. It was so entirely different.
“Some of [the critics] were moaning that the novel had no plot and was formless, someone else was moaning that there was way too much plot. I think, though, that I caught America in a mood of profound boredom about climate change. They just didn’t want to hear about it any more, they were sick to the teeth. I think there was a strong element of that.”
He added, with a laugh: “Or maybe it was no good, there was always that possibility.”
Ha-ha! “That possibility.”
