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A review by steveatwaywords
Literary Fiction Tourism: Understanding the Practice of Fiction-Inspired Travel by Nicola E. MacLeod
informative
fast-paced
2.25
This is an extraordinarily niche bit of scholarship. If this is not your field, it is far far too expensive a book to be worth the read.
If this IS your interest, however, you are in for a re-organization of the shifting field of literary fiction tourism. Macleod methodically and clearly lays out her approach and then sets about for the better part of the relatively brief work to detail what she means from her various categories and what is currently happening within them. This is, therefore, a fairly time-sensitive and dry book that does not offer any "insight" so much as it updates what is happening (and to some extent, why).
Fortunately for the fast-reader, the entire book can be consumed in a few hours. Macleod offers ponderous introductions ("In this chapter I will," "This next section will"), unimaginative topic sentences, and almost needless chapter summaries. In between, when we are are fortunate, we learn of some new trends or consumer motivations. In the end, however, I was wishing for an infographic to do the job.
I sound soured. I am. I heard about this book in the works, awaited its publication, and then discovered its outrageous cost. For . . . this? Fortunately, I tracked down an eBook version in a local university library. I urge potential readers to do the same, if an overview of this tiny but otherwise fascinating pocket of the industry is your interest. About 10 pages of notes and that infographic idea was feeling about right.
What might Macleod have done to make it more satisfying? Field work, interviews, contrasting strategies and their effectiveness, or perhaps even her own speculations/thinking of the efficacy and/or ethics of some of the re-creative approaches. The readerly community is often quite savvy about what it wants and why; I'd like to think the industry is responsive to it.
If this IS your interest, however, you are in for a re-organization of the shifting field of literary fiction tourism. Macleod methodically and clearly lays out her approach and then sets about for the better part of the relatively brief work to detail what she means from her various categories and what is currently happening within them. This is, therefore, a fairly time-sensitive and dry book that does not offer any "insight" so much as it updates what is happening (and to some extent, why).
Fortunately for the fast-reader, the entire book can be consumed in a few hours. Macleod offers ponderous introductions ("In this chapter I will," "This next section will"), unimaginative topic sentences, and almost needless chapter summaries. In between, when we are are fortunate, we learn of some new trends or consumer motivations. In the end, however, I was wishing for an infographic to do the job.
I sound soured. I am. I heard about this book in the works, awaited its publication, and then discovered its outrageous cost. For . . . this? Fortunately, I tracked down an eBook version in a local university library. I urge potential readers to do the same, if an overview of this tiny but otherwise fascinating pocket of the industry is your interest. About 10 pages of notes and that infographic idea was feeling about right.
What might Macleod have done to make it more satisfying? Field work, interviews, contrasting strategies and their effectiveness, or perhaps even her own speculations/thinking of the efficacy and/or ethics of some of the re-creative approaches. The readerly community is often quite savvy about what it wants and why; I'd like to think the industry is responsive to it.