Reviews of Seeing Calvin Coolidge in a Dream
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Synopsis
Address at JFK Library
Review of reviews

I have listed below all the reviews I could find, including unfavorable ones.  In fact most reviews were favorable.  I think I can say-- without, of course, any prejudice whatsoever-- that those who gave me unfavorable reviews missed the point of my book.

The principal grounds for praise of the book were liking of my central character and admiration for the chutzpah of my main plot device (often coupled with an admission that the reader found it a bit of a stretch).   Readers also liked the scattering of curious and interesting tidbits from Chinese culture.   Main dislikes were ideological:  I, or my narrator, are not sufficiently P.C.  This is fine:   I detest P.C. and if I ever write a book that is praised by the P.C. mob, I shall shoot myself. 

Every one of my Jewish friends has pointed out that chai is the Hebrew for "life", and asked if I had this in mind when naming my hero.  No, I didn't; but the temptation to say I did is getting to be well-nigh irresistible.
Date of review Periodical Reviewer Representative quote
Jan. 15, 1997 U.S.A. Today Dinah Eng "... the book makes sweeping comments about Chinese people that I, as an Asian-American, find offensive."
Jan. 7, 1997 Village Voice Amy Bloom "...a gifted hand swirls through brilliantly observed settings..."
Sept. 14, 1996 Pittsburgh Tribune John Whitehead "While we may not be able to go home again, John Derbyshire's clever, nuanced novel assures us that the possibility of a new home awaits..."
Sept. 11, 1996 Cleveland Plain Dealer John Stark Bellamy II "...a mainly comic confection that hits far more than it misses..."
Aug. 5, 1996 New Yorker Anon. ("Briefly Noted") "Derbyshire's great accomplishment is his perceptive and self-deprecating hero."
Jul./Aug. 1996 Crisis Rich Lowry "Sensitively rendered, written with grace and zip, thematically profound..."
June 30, 1996 Rocky Mountain News Joan Hinkemeyer "...combines originality, humor, satire and warmth..."
May 19, 1996 Tucson Daily Star J.C. Martin "...filled with cheerful bounce and deadpan humor that elevates..."
May 5, 1996 Detroit Free Press Linnea Lannon "Derbyshire persuaded me with Chai's voice and delighted me with Ding's solution to her husband's problem."
Apr. 30, 1996 Boston Globe Katherine A. Powers "...this astonishing first novel approaches perfection."
Apr. 14, 1996 New York Times John Burnham Schwartz "...possesses a quirky brio that causes it to linger in the reader's mind."
Apr. 13, 1996 St. Louis Post-Dispatch Dale Singer "...the novel is carried along by its language, and by its attention to language as a theme."
April 1996 Bookline Anon. "I have just finished reading Seeing Calvin Coolidge in a Dream for the second time and I miss it terribly already."
Mar. 10, 1996 Washington Post Jonathan Yardley "In more than three decades of professional book reviewing I have found perhaps half a dozen books that came out of the unknown and gave me surprise and pleasure beyond measure.  Seeing Calvin Coolidge in a Dream is one of these."
Mar. 1, 1996 Library Journal David A. Beröna "The skillful mixture of heartfelt characters and historical events in this witty and inventive story will delight all readers."
Jan. 22, 1996 Publishers' Weekly Anon. "...a lighthearted romantic romp and a knowing literary study of the tensions between self-discipline and determinism."
Jan. 15, 1996 Kirkus Reviews Anon. "A postmodern mess ... earnest and ambitious, but disjointed and strained."

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