| Edward St. Aubyn
attempts to take the literary world to task and the manner
in which awards are given to authors in this British send-up
of literary folks who take themselves too seriously.
The reader follows the infighting of the panel of judges charged
with awarding the annual Elysian Prize for Literature as well
a small group of nominees. No one seems happy with the short
list, although there is a bit of a humorous glitch when a
cookbook by an Indian author is accidentally selected as one
of the finalists.
With the exception of the woman who wrote the cookbook, everyone
involved with the award acts badly and makes a total fool
of himself or herself. There are a few truly funny moments
in this novel but, sadly, they are few and far between.
Although Lost for Words has been lauded as a “funny
and fiercely intelligent satire,” I don’t see
how anything this sophomoric can be hyped as brilliant satire.
I normally enjoy British humor, but not this time. This novel
was a total dud and I found very little here that really hit
the mark. Perhaps it is a cultural thing, but I doubt it.
Frankly, I just don’t think this attempt at satire worked
that well, even though the idea was a good one.
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