Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: FRIDAY, March 8, 1991 TAG: 9103080116
SECTION: EXTRA PAGE: E-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: NEW YORK LENGTH: Medium
Ambivalent booksellers argue over how the book should be handled, and a West Hollywood, Calif., shop called Book Soup has even stuffed this disclaimer into its copies:
"Dear Reader: Book Soup is making this book available to you because of our commitment to the doctrine of freedom of expression. This should not be construed to be an endorsement of the contents."
In Santa Cruz, Neal Coonerty of Bookshop Santa Cruz said he would put up a sign saying, "We believe this book has the right to be published, but we cannot recommend it."
Vintage Books issued Bret Easton Ellis' novel in paperback following its cancellation last year by the original publisher, Simon & Schuster.
A debate has raged in publishing circles over whether Simon & Schuster - which published Ellis' previous novels, "Less Than Zero" and "The Rules of Attraction" - was exercising good taste or guilty of cowardly censorship.
The book is filled with accounts of mayhem and torture. The protagonist - an investment banker who is a serial killer - dismembers victims. They include a dog, a homeless man, a 5-year-old boy and numerous women.
Ellis did not respond to a request, made through Vintage, for an interview. But in the current issue of Entertainment Weekly, he is quoted as saying, "I don't think anyone should be offended by [the book]. . . . I can't understand how women can mistake the book for a how-to on torture and dismemberment."
The book has been almost universally condemned by critics.
Jonathan Yardley of The Washington Post called it "a contemptible piece of pornography, the literary equivalent of a snuff flick."
The Los Angeles chapter of the National Organization for Women has called for a boycott of Vintage Books and promised to distribute information about violence against women outside stores that sell the book.
The American Booksellers Association has distributed material on the book to its members, including an "American Psycho" question-and-answer sheet and a statement that can be given to the news media.
Vintage, which printed about 60,000 copies, hardly gave the book an enthusiastic sendoff. It neither stuck promotional material into reviewers' copies nor arranged a publicity tour for Ellis.
And the book, which is filled with the names and descriptions of consumer gadgets, designer clothes and chic restaurants, contains a disclaimer of its own, saying the book's contents are "imaginary and are not intended to refer to any living persons or to disparage any company's products or services."
The novel's first week on the shelves was uneventful.
"We're making it available, but we're downplaying it," said Matthew Goldstein, spokesman for Doubleday's 55 bookstores. "In no way, shape or form are we touting it."
B. Dalton polled the managers of its 800 stores and found that 98 percent thought it should be sold and 90 percent thought it should not be publicized.
In the Roanoke Valley, Books Strings & Things and the B. Dalton store have the novel on their shelves, and Waldenbooks plans to carry it. It is not in stock at Ram's Head Book Shop, and a spokewoman Thursday night was uncertain whether the store would carry it.
Some stores refused to sell the book.
"Everybody's got to draw the line of good taste, and I draw it above that book," said Esther Shaver of E. Shaver, Bookseller, in Savannah, Ga.
But at Shakespeare & Co. on Manhattan's Upper West Side, "It's a hot selling book," said floor manager Nick Smart, who noted that the novel's yuppie protagonist lives in the neighborhood.
by CNB