Susan Scarf Merrell

I have read back-to-back two novels about recently alive writers that imply those writers may have been murderers, and so now I'm going to compare them. Susan Scarf Merrell, the author of Shirley, about Shirley Jackson, and Jill Dawson, the author of The Crime Writer, about Patricia Highsmith, both show a thorough knowledge and appreciation of their subjects and seem mainly to want to write a book in the style of their favorite authors. I have to wonder then why they don't just write their own novels instead of delving into a real person's life. When there are still people alive who remember both Jackson and Highsmith, it seems a little icky, especially imagining these women committing murder out of love. It also reinforces a bit too much the fallacy of confusing a writer with what she writes about. These novels were clever conceits but ultimately just curiosities that I'll probably never pick up again, as they stray rather too far into fan-fiction territory. Their subjects' novels, though, remain eminently readable and rereadable.… (meer)

Imagine Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? through the eyes of Honey. Shirley Jackson presides vividly in this fiction, but it is young Rose's unquenchable need and jealousy that drives the tale. Well written visit to Bennington in the last year of Jackson's life ponders what, if anything, satisfies the hunger to been "seen" -- marriage, success, fame, children, talent, youth, or beauty -- but like the mystery of Paula Weldon provides no answers. Some object to the fictional intrusion into Jackson's life while others enjoy the biographical credibility -- your mileage may vary but it is definitely worth a drive.… (meer)