Sometimes you see a book cover and think, okay, that's just something they've knocked up before the real jacket designer comes on board, or, cool, they've asked some gaol inmates to sketch a book cover as part of social therapy classes or maybe they've read a two-sentence blurb once and remembered some words and then looked up clipart from Word 95 and pasted it all together. This is one of those covers. For the lead Granta title for September, it's a pretty shocking effort. As one friend in the publishing industry so succinctly put it, "If that cover was my baby, I would try to put it back."
Nonetheless, I really do recommend you look past the cover and give it a go. You won't be disappointed.
In the interests of fairness, however, the US jacket isn't much better:
The UK jacket is getting there, but still doesn't do it for me:
P.S. I don't want it to feel like I'm picking on you, Allen & Unwin, so here's a book cover from Penguin (Viking) that I saw today, and should make you feel okay. Buckets ready...
When this image on the cover would be an improvement on the cover, you know you're in trouble.
P.P.S. Super Sad True Love Story also has by far the best book trailer of the year. Hi-larious:
1 comment:
i gotsta agree with you here - that Aust cover is so cutesy-horrible. but i don't mind the US one, although not having read the book (yet) i have no idea if it suits the subject matter. Shteyngart in his traipsing author tour has been praising and commenting his cover (though i imagine it's in his interests to do so), saying that if you push all the buttons the book powers on, and also likening it to that loved-hated game Twister, with all its debauchery etc.
keep the cover commentary coming Currie.
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