AUGUST 2015 - AudioFile
In his first novel, well-respected poet and editor Jonathan Galassi offers a lively story of smart people who love language and books. Galassi’s spikily tender send-up of the publishing world is fortunate to have a narrator with Arthur Morey’s keen sensibilities. Morey delivers a first-rate performance, building plausible characters who range from self-serving to heroic. Publishers are flocking to publish young hot-ticket poet Ida Perkins. Publishers flocking? Hot-ticket poet? It seems Perkins is the exception to the rule. Her poetry has mass public appeal. Sounds like a fairy tale, but the novel reminds us that there was a time—before the digital age—when soon-to-be-literary-giants were scouted by the publishing industry and poetry was important. Morey makes Galassi’s debut memorable listening. S.J.H. © AudioFile 2015, Portland, Maine
Publishers Weekly
03/16/2015
In poet Galassi’s first novel, a book editor navigates the world of 21st-century publishing while unraveling the secrets of his lifelong hero, an octogenarian poet named Ida Perkins. The novel opens during the postwar literary boom, when nemeses Homer Stern and Sterling Wainwright launch competing houses—P&S and Impetus, respectively. The protagonist, Paul Dukach, begins working at P&S in the ’90s, when Union Square is still “the city’s major needle park.” The bulk of the story, though, transpires in the aughts, when Paul, driven by his obsession with Ida, befriends Homer’s foe, Sterling, a cousin of the poet. When Sterling gives Paul the cryptic notebooks of Ida’s late love to decode, the project becomes an occasion for a meeting with Ida. This meeting reveals her final, secret collection—the contents of which, Paul realizes, have the potential to turn publishing upside-down. The fun of this book is watching Galassi, who serves as president and publisher of FSG, weave his fictional characters into real literary history and put his considerable gifts as a poet to good use. Indeed, Perkins’ verses (“she smells the ozone” / “after love the fear”) surpass Galassi’s expositions on publishing and its ongoing war against Big Tech. Agent: Melanie Jackson, Melanie Jackson Agency. (June)
From the Publisher
Witty . . . delicious. Galassi—a publisher, poet and translator with decades of inside knowledge of the publishing industry—uses his background to great effect in this a slyly sophisticated roman à clef. He slips the fictitious poet Ida Perkins into the 20th century literary canon and puts her at the centre of a literary competition between publishers.” —Jane Ciabattari, BBC.com, Ten Books to Read in June
“Complex and heartbreaking . . . Galassi’s fictionalized vision of publishing, even subtracting the veneer of satire, is simultaneously romantic and problematic, [an] otherworldly amalgam of the real, the satiric and the entirely imagined . . . a Mad Men world that’s white, wealthy and male. Muse traces publishing’s trajectory from a confident, martini-lunching old boys’ club to a more enlightened industry plagued by the uncertainty brought on by a brave new world . . . It is, in some respects, a love letter for a bygone time, [without] the miserliness of that genre. At the heart of everything these people do is a profound love of literature. The novel leaps to life when we [meet] Ida Perkins, a poetry superstar. Muse reads like a memoir of sorts, told, as befits a sophisticated teller, with all the tools at his disposal—satire, a touch of postmodernism, the roman à clef, and naturally, romance.” —Alana Wilcox, National Post (Canada)
“Part satire, part fantasy, and unabashed in its affection for the world of publishing, Farrar, Straus & Giroux president and publisher Galassi's first novel is a captivating roman à clef, written with the insight and wit of a true insider. An accomplished poet, Galassi effectively deploys both his knowledge of that art form and of the business of producing books in this clever story . . . Whether it's a trip to the Frankfurt Book Fair or a dinner with the founder of an Amazon-like e-tailer, Galassi delivers realistic glimpses of pressures that loom over the traditional book business today. Equally pleasurable are his flights of fancy: a world where first editions of poetry books sell 750,000 copies and where the death of a beloved poet spurs the president to declare a national holiday; where literature occupies the center of the cultural conversation, rather than being exiled to the provinces inhabited by academics and a handful of acolytes. For all the wistfulness of its backward-looking glance, Muse is anything but a nostalgia trip. Instead, this gentle, wry novel should reinforce the belief of anyone who loves books that the survival of the world Galassi portrays is worth fighting for. A sharp and affectionate look at the contemporary publishing business.” —Harvey Freedenberg, Shelf Awareness
“Galassi’s first novel, which charts the rivalry between two Manhattan publishing houses, is packed with lively secrets and insider gossip from the world of literature." —Entertainment Weekly
“An insider's look at book publishing spins a fable of egos, literature, and commerce in which an editor’s obsession with a poet leads to the revelation of a crucial secret. Galassi is a poet and translator and, for his day job, president and publisher of Farrar, Straus & Giroux. In this fiction debut, he imagines the gifted and beautiful poet Ida Perkins, cynosure of men literary and otherwise. A critics’ darling from her first collection at 18, she soon [becomes] that rarest of phenomena, a profitable poet. Her fortunate publisher is a WASP from old New England money, and his chief rival is a savvy, foulmouthed Austrian Jew who racks up more Nobels than any other house—except Farrar. The obsessive is Paul Dukach, whose first meeting with Ida brings him and the story to the ultimate collision of private person and published writing. Galassi conveys the thrill of being dazzled by literature . . . He also has fun with the language of reviewing while delivering a casual seminar on American poetry; an extended riff on the Frankfurt Book Fair bespeaks years of painful firsthand experience . . . A worthy psalm on the pre-Amazon, pre-digital days of publishing that anyone might appreciate. Galassi rates praise especially for choosing to have some knowing fun with his years in the business.” —Kirkus (starred review)
“In poet Galassi’s first novel, a book editor navigates the world of 21st-century publishing while unraveling the secrets of his lifelong hero, a poet named Ida Perkins . . . The fun of this book is watching Galassi weave his fictional characters into real literary history and put his considerable gifts as a poet to good use.” —Publishers Weekly
“Charming . . . A novel about a world that exists in memory: an industry still spoken of reverentially as a noble calling rather than a business. Its hero is a bookish young man from upstate New York who is drawn to the down-at-the heels glamour of book publishing. Muse is two parts valentine, one part satire, a loving send-up of a very specific culture. [Here] is a world where intrigue takes the form of a decades-long battle over who gets to publish a charismatic, talented and audacious poet, a writer of sensual poetry with an outsized popular appeal. A reader would not be wrong to see parallels between the characters in the book and industry legends.” —Kara Bloomgarden-Smoke, New York Observer
“A witty, elegant, tons-of-fun debut novel. Jonathan Galassi has got all the dirt on the publishing industry and he is ready to dish. But he also takes us from Union Square and a hideaway country cottage to Venice, for a love story all his own.” —Gary Shteyngart
“We know Galassi as president and publisher of Farrar, Straus & Giroux, as the author of three collections of poetry, and as an icon in the publishing industry. Now we get to know him as a debut novelist. Not surprisingly, Galassi writes about publishing itself, and it will be fun to match fiction with real-life fact. Paul Dukach is heir apparent at Purcell & Stern, hanging on in seen-better-days offices near Manhattan’s Union Square (much like Farrar’s) as one of the few remaining independents. Right now, he’s after Ida Perkins, a dazzling and culturally significant poet (yes, poetry matters!) whose longtime publisher, also her cousin and sometime lover, is a major rival of Paul’s boss. When Paul seeks out Ida at her Venetian palazzo, he learns a startling secret.” —Barbara Hoffert, Library Journal
“Jonathan Galassi has accomplished that most difficult of tasks, which is to write a lively and interesting novel about book publishing, many scenes of which brought back to me vividly what book publishing is (or used to be) like: larger than life figures (at any rate in their own minds), impossible authors, intense rivalry, and daily drama. It will explain to hoi polloi what book publishers do when they’re not lunching, and to those in the industry it will present a fascinating roman-a-clef puzzle to solve.” —Michael Korda, author of Queenie and Another Life
Library Journal
01/01/2015
President and publisher of Farrar, Straus & Giroux and author of three collections of poetry, Galassi offers a debut novel that, not surprisingly, concerns publishing itself. Paul Dukach is heir apparent at Purcell & Stern, hanging on in seen-better-days offices near Manhattan's Union Square as that rare independent. He wants to add dazzling poet Ida Perkins to his list, but her longtime publisher (also her cousin and sometime lover) is a major rival of Paul's boss.
AUGUST 2015 - AudioFile
In his first novel, well-respected poet and editor Jonathan Galassi offers a lively story of smart people who love language and books. Galassi’s spikily tender send-up of the publishing world is fortunate to have a narrator with Arthur Morey’s keen sensibilities. Morey delivers a first-rate performance, building plausible characters who range from self-serving to heroic. Publishers are flocking to publish young hot-ticket poet Ida Perkins. Publishers flocking? Hot-ticket poet? It seems Perkins is the exception to the rule. Her poetry has mass public appeal. Sounds like a fairy tale, but the novel reminds us that there was a time—before the digital age—when soon-to-be-literary-giants were scouted by the publishing industry and poetry was important. Morey makes Galassi’s debut memorable listening. S.J.H. © AudioFile 2015, Portland, Maine
Kirkus Reviews
★ 2015-03-21
An insider's look at New York book publishing spins a fable of egos, literature, and commerce in which an editor's obsession with a poet leads to the revelation of a crucial secret. Galassi (Left-Handed, 2012, etc.) is a poet and translator and, for his day job, president and publisher of Farrar, Straus & Giroux. In this fiction debut, he imagines the gifted and beautiful poet Ida Perkins, cynosure of men literary and otherwise. A critics' darling from her first collection at 18, she soon captivates enough readers to make her that rarest of phenomena, a profitable poet. Her fortunate publisher is Sterling Wainwright of Impetus Editions, a WASP from old New England money, and his chief rival is Homer Stern of Purcell & Stern, a savvy, foulmouthed Austrian Jew who racks up more Nobels than any other house—except Farrar. The obsessive is Paul Dukach, whose early years working in a bookstore led him to a passion for and near-omniscience about Ida and a job at P&S. A first-time meeting with Ida brings him and the story to the ultimate collision of private person and published writing that has percolated through the novel, as it has through the history of literary criticism. With the Paul and Ida characters, Galassi conveys the thrill of being dazzled by literature. (The sample Ida poems suggest that he favors feeling and clarity over obscurantism.) He also has fun with the language of reviewing while delivering a casual seminar on American poetry. A sense of historical fiction permeates in references to Ida's many triumphs and contemporary events and in thumbnail sketches of several characters. Janis Joplin sings one of Ida's poems at Woodstock. Marianne Moore tells her "We are pierced by the intricate needlework of your asperitic formulations." An extended riff on the Frankfurt Book Fair bespeaks years of painful firsthand experience. May be more fun for cognoscenti than for common readers, yet it offers a worthy psalm on the pre-Amazon, pre-digital days of publishing that anyone might appreciate. Galassi rates praise especially for choosing to have some knowing fun with his years in the business and sparing the world another memoir.
