In February, one of the publicists I worked for was carrying around this paperback with a faux-wood-panel cover with a stuffed mountain lion and a hipster font. I asked him about it and he told me about "Teabag" and his adventures in reporting to his high school class newsletter. I smiled politely and went back to reading my history of monster movies in Hollywood. I'm not a fiction kind of guy and if I do feel the need, there are those list of "greatest books" of the last century that I'm still working through. To put it bluntly- contemporary popular fiction= Blah. Then I saw the book stacked up in the front of Virgin Superstore. I definitely wasn't going to read it. It was one of those titles. (You know there's too much out there to read to be suckered in to reading the titles everyone is ga-ga over only to be let down. Let's just say I read Palunhiuk's Diary and that was enough to reinforce my decision to steer clear). So why am I reviewing Home Land? Because I did end up reading it. It became such a cause for online litblogs that I just had to read it to see if it was worth the praise and the hubbub. Home Land is really the first work of fiction I've seen to have such an impact due to word of blog (and now with it's "success," I'm, sure we will see stronger pushes and more dedicated marketing ploys to get title reviewed by online sites.) Suddenly, this book became a big deal because no on in American publishing wanted to touch the book (well at least the 24 major publishing houses that rejected it. It took months after being called "the best Greatest American Novel not currently available in America" and such on British sites and other writers lamenting in interviews that this book couldn't find an American publisher. It became forbidden fruit and then Picador picked it up and published it. Then the flurry of online reviews hit. Even the big media giants had bloggers write their reviews. The book resonants for those feel that the high school heirarchy never really goes away. It uses the high school newsletter to create a forum for those alumnus who have ended up less fortunate to remind others that not everyone is a lawyer, doctor, grant-winner. It's keeping up with the Joneses in a world where no one even has time to show off their success. At points the book falters and the ending seems forced, but that could be becasue every school dance in every high school movie seems forced and this is a reflection of that cinematic device to mock reader expectations. If you want more on the actual book, see the reviews above. In my mind, the book was one of those "read'em-and-forget'em" books, allbeit with better dialogue than most. I'm just fascinated that it has become a touchstone for today's writers. It's a perfect example for them to show how publishing got it wrong by totally focusing on profit instead of a good read. Well, what do they expect? Books are a business. Big trade houses are not about getting great fiction out to the world. The world doesn't want it on the level that these houses need to publish. It's funny that in all the stories I haven't read how the small independent publishers reacted to this work. The story of a publishing community not wanting to publish a book isn't really new. What is new is that we now have the New York Observer giving us the history of how the books struggled to get published and ven the acquiring editor's take on the problems the book had (via Media Bistro- subscription required). I can't wait for the deluxe edition that will have these stories and maybe even the author's edits to the manuscript like they did for Eliot's "Wasteland." Come to think of it, the whole thing is really rather depressing. I'm sure Mr. Lipsyte will continue writing and people will continue to buy books and only the writer's who already feel persecuted by publishers will continue to harp on this story and use it to demonize the industry .