Hi Larry,
Funny editorial in today's NYT:
August 9, 2001
A Man, a Plan, a Manuscript
By CHRISTOPHER BUCKLEY
ug. 9, 2002
To: William Jefferson Clinton
From: Bob Gottlieb, Random House
Re: The Manuscript
Dear Mr. President,
I read it straight through, which I almost never do. Since it is an important
book, I read it more slowly than I usually read, and reached Page 2,826 this
morning just before dawn, with the result that I have now been up for four
nights without sleep and probably will make no sense, but I wanted to get
some thoughts down on paper before I collapse of dehydration and
exhaustion. But that's my problem, not yours.
First, it's brilliant. More brilliant than I had any hope — or right — to expect.
While I can't speak for Sonny Mehta, I know that he too will think it's
brilliant.
All right. Now you know I think it's brilliant. What didn't I like or "get," or
what did I miss or want more of or less of? I've been asking myself those
questions and still don't have any answers. So why don't I just plunge in?
I think the idea of telling it from Monica's point of view has wonderful
potential. Knopf is a literary house and shouldn't be afraid of taking risks.
That said, we might run the risk of confusing some people. But then some
people want to be confused. It's what makes them cute.
I've seldom read a presidential memoir in which the female characters are so
well developed. The chapters on Gennifer Flowers reminded me of Colette.
Yet I wonder — and I'm only wondering here — if she deserves six
chapters of her own. But again I could be wrong.
What did I miss? I missed any mention of your brilliant stewardship of the
Nafta legislation, of the way you brought everyone to the table when Mexico
was about to default on its loans. My memory is hazy to be sure, but didn't
you solve that situation? Didn't it go away? Aren't the Mexicans happy now?
Aside from the trucks thing.
While I'm on it, I missed Bob Rubin. I mean, I know Bob and think he's
terrific, but I missed him in the book. He was your secretary of the Treasury
for years, and yet I can only find one mention of him, on Page 786. Was he,
after all, not that hands-on? If so — if not — shouldn't we say something
about this?
The chapters on Kathleen Willey, switching to her voice, were fascinating,
but wouldn't 25 pages do for this instead of 246?
I could be wrong. I want to talk to Sonny about this. I know that he's been
talking to the Oprah people and they are looking for this sort of thing. Still, I
feel we might want to leave some room — if only just a mention here and
there — for the health care reform business, gays in the military, welfare
reform, the Camp David Middle East summit and the creation of 30 million
new jobs. While I agree with you that that's "boring," it doesn't have to be.
Even so, I do feel that the reviewers might care.
What readers surely would not find "boring" was the brilliant way you dealt
with Newt Gingrich. I had to search for any mention of him, and finally found
two, on Pages 1,433 and 1,599, where you briefly allude to wanting to slam
Air Force One's door on his "chubby fingers." That's a great moment, and I
missed seeing it more fully developed.
In looking for some mention of other big players — Alan Greenspan, Al
Gore (are they all named Al in Washington these days?) — I sometimes felt
that I was playing that game "Where's Waldo?" Greenspan may be — I
found him on Page 1,703 — as you say, "gaga" on the subject of Ayn Rand,
but I at least wanted to hear much more about that, and I'll bet Sonny would,
too.
I'm rambling. The first thing I want to do — after they rehydrate me at the
emergency room — is read it again, this time carefully. I don't know if I'll
have any answers for you even then. What I do know is that this is going to
be an incredible, original book — I want to say groundbreaking but I'm not
sure I dare; no, I do dare — and that we got it dirt cheap. What can I say?
It'll be huge. |
