Candidates
There were some interesting suggestions in the comments yesterday regarding Category Seven novels. --which of course I defined, so the whole enterprise is highly suspect. But here we go anyway.
If you'll remember, a Category Seven novel:
1)The hypothesis is this:
(a) is well written (prose that is above the ordinary, strong characterization, etc);
(b) has a strong, well structured plot;
(c) is thematically relevant or fashionable or at least, potentially engaging
2) is a critical success (has been noted by major review/newspaper outlets in an over-all positive way)
3) is a commercial success (though we haven't figured out if we're talking world-wide commercial success or not).
whether a novel is (1) commercially successful, (2) critically successfuly, or (3) both depends on the ratio of the three characteristics given above (strong writing, strong plot, strong theme) as well as on marketing. More specifically, my hypothesis is that a book can be commercially wildly successful if it has some combination of (a) and/or (b), and that (c) doesn't predict much except critical success. A novel that meets ALL the criteria is a Category Seven novel.Everybody confused now? Okay, so here's the list of novels offered as Category Seven:
- To Kill a Mockingbird | Harper Lee
- Birdsong | Sebastian Faulks
- Regeneration | Pat Barker
- Fly Away Peter | David Malouf
- The Lovely Bones | Alice Sebold
- The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time | Mark Haddon
- The Name of the Rose | Umberto Eco
- Possession | A. S. Byatt
If you could measure commercial success solely in terms of books sold (as they do with box office receipts for movies) it would be a little easier to talk about this, but as it is, we have to be pretty flexible in our definition of commercial success. It occurs to me that it would be interesting to name some hugely successful novels and see how they fit into the scheme. What about these big sellers?
| Title | Story/Plot | Writing | Theme | Critical success? |
| Harry Potter | ? | ? | ? | ? |
| The DaVinci Code | - | - | + | - |
| The Shining | ? | ? | ? | ? |
| Cold Mountain | ? | ? | ? | ? |
| The Accidental Tourist | ? | ? | ? | ? |
The only book I've evaluated is The DaVinci Code, because I've reviewed it here, very bluntly. And this is my opinion, of course, and nothing more. I could fill in the others according to my own perceptions, but that would defeat the purpose. Because i do have one.