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Critics' Opinion:
Readers' Opinion:
First Published:
Jul 2013, 336 pages
Paperback:
Jul 2014, 336 pages
Book Reviewed by:
BookBrowse First Impression Reviewers
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A scathingly funny and wickedly humorous roman-a-clef by one of our most acclaimed literary humorists - about a bitterly uninspired writer who decides to change her life after a freak accident.
The endearingly bitter writer, Amy Gallup has happily isolated herself from the world spending the last two decades teaching and reviewing - she's done a lot of thinking ... but very little writing. On an unassuming morning, in her slippers, Amy trips in her backyard, goes head-over-heels, and into the side of a birdbath. The hospital clears her of head injury - so Amy returns home. When a local reporter shows up for a scheduled interview - Amy is not quite herself.
The article paints Amy as a the zen-goddess of writing, publishing ... and life. Her bizarre interview was interpreted as the rambling of a true genius. But all that really happened was: Amy fell down!
The next thing she knows, friends and fans are coming out of the woodwork. Suddenly Amy is on radio shows, keynoting a major publishing event, and guiding a local writers' retreat. But the strangest thing of all: Amy starts to write.
Readers witness Amy confront her past and present, and choose to take down the walls she so carefully wrote up around her. Amy Falls Down is a novel both surprisingly heartwarming and a witty mirror into today's publishing world - as only Jincy Willett could write.
A scathingly funny and wickedly humorous roman-a-clef by one of our most acclaimed literary humorists - about a bitterly uninspired writer who decides to change her life after a freak accident.
CHAPTER ONE
Accident
Because the Norfolk pine was heavy, and also because she was wearing house slippers, having not yet dressed for the day, Amy took her time getting to the raised garden. Her house slippers were fuzzy, oversized, and floppy, and if she moved too fast, she would walk right out of them.
She was not yet dressed for the day because she had no reason to dress until much later, at which time she'd have to dress uncomfortably, and she was in no hurry to do that. At three o'clock a reporter from The San Diego Union-Tribune was coming to interview Amy as part of some bogus series about local writers. Although she'd specified no current events and especially no photographs, she didn't trust a reporter who sounded on the phone as though she were eight years old and couldn't think of anything funnier than not wanting your face on public display. Imagine, her laughter implied, denying the world the chance to gaze upon you. So Amy dreaded the ...
Trust me, if you love books, and love to read, this is for you. Like the characters in the book that discover (or re-discover) Amy Gallup I want to read everything that Jincy Willett has written. Keep a dictionary handy because her vocabulary is amazing.....continued
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(Reviewed by BookBrowse First Impression Reviewers).
Irish writer Nuala Ní Chonchúir wrote in a blog for the Irish Writer's Centre:
The promotional end of things is not always fun for writers. We are often, by nature, solitary beings, preferring our own company – and that of our fictional friends – to that of real people. We are OK with being on our own, tapping out imagined lives on our computers. But once the book is written and published, there is a whole slew of other stuff that we have to take part in and that can be daunting. These include readings, appearances, signings, book tours, interviews and, sometimes, amusing photo shoots.
She is right. It is often hard for writers, who have been trained to do solitary work and who are often introverted by nature, to ...
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