James W. Hall - Hit Lit: Cracking the Code of the Twentieth Century’s Biggest Bestsellers

T here were several early readers of this book who provided invaluable, though often daunting, criticisms and guidance. Chief among them was my wife, Evelyn Crovo-Hall, whose suggestions were crucial in correcting some early wrong turns. At every stage Les Standiford, my colleague and friend, gave sage and practical advice about the focus of this book, helping to rescue it from academic stuffiness. I must give special thanks to John Unsworth, dean and professor of library and information science at the University of Illinois, who kindly posted his extensive website describing his bestseller class at the University of Virginia. This site proved to be an invaluable tool for my own teaching and research over the years. Chuck Elkins, professor emeritus at Florida International University, read an early draft of the manuscript and provided critical and incisive suggestions that greatly improved the final product. David Gonzalez, who wrote the plot summaries at the end of this book, was also a helpful sounding board as the book was taking shape. Without the inspired editing and excellent judgment of Millicent Bennett and Kate Medina, I would never have found the real book hiding inside the early drafts.

And I must thank that long-ago librarian who got me hooked on books and steered me to a larger, more interesting world than I would have known otherwise. Librarians like her exist today, as well as many valiant English teachers, who against great odds are still guiding readers, young and old, to books they would otherwise not discovermaking countless lives richer in the process and instilling a lifelong passion for reading in generations to come.

Also by James W. Hall

Dead Last
Silencer
Hells Bay
Magic City
Forests of the Night
Off the Chart
Hot Damn
Blackwater Sound
Rough Draft
Body Language
Red Sky at Night
Buzz Cut
Gone Wild
Mean High Tide
Hard Aground
Bones of Coral
Tropical Freeze
Under Cover of Daylight

T o refresh the memories of those who havent reread these novels lately, and to inform those who havent yet gotten around to them, here are plot summaries of each. The summaries were written by a graduate student of mine, David Gonzalez. David is in his early thirties, born and raised in Miami, and though hes a passionate reader and a highly accomplished fiction writer, believe it or not, he had not read any of the novels on this list prior to taking on the job of summarizing these books.

In that way, David was like most of the students who took this course from me over the years. Like many of my former students, David Gonzalez has been immersed in the works of Ray Carver, Flannery OConnor, Gabriel Garca Mrquez, Virginia Woolf, Junot Daz, Charles Baxter, and Herman Melville. Quite an eclectic mix.

What limited exposure David had to these popular bestsellers came through their film versions. So I was pleased, though not surprised, that he greatly enjoyed reading these hits of the past. His favorite was Gone with the Wind, and his least favorite was Peyton Place, which he found rambling and poorly plotted, its narrator (Allison MacKenzie) aimlessly floating around town. He also found the sappy and egocentric voice of Robert Kincaid, the narrator of The Bridges of Madison County, hard to take seriously.

David says that when he originally read Valley of the Dolls, he was turned off by the daytime soaps vibe to it. But months later, upon reflection, his opinion changed: Im glad that I read it. I can appreciate it for the standard it set, albeit a relatively trashy one.

Ive tried not to tamper too much with Davids voice in these plot summaries to give a feel for the views of one fervent reader of Generation X.

Scarlett OHara is young, brash, seductive, and stubborn. Not exactly the usual traits synonymous with young debutantes of the preCivil War South. But she cant help it. She takes too much after her father, Gerald OHara, a hard-drinking Irish immigrant with the proverbial heart of gold, who wiggled his way into society using the power of money and a gritty determination.

The novel begins when Scarlett learns that Ashley Wilkes will propose to Melanie Hamilton at a party at the Wilkeses family plantation. When Scarlett professes her love to him, Ashley admits that he does care for her but that like must marry like, and he likes Melanie. After Ashley leaves, Rhett Butler, a handsome and devilish rogue, admits to overhearing the entire conversation. Scarlett is doubly humiliated and, in a fit of anger and jealousy, accepts the marriage proposal of Charles Hamilton, the shy, awkward, somewhat pitiable brother of Melanie.

Only weeks after their marriage, Charles suffers an ignoble death in a sick tent on the Civil War battlefield, and Scarlett is forced to grieve publicly over the loss of a husband shes secretly glad to be free of. In an attempt to assuage Scarletts melancholy, her mother, Ellen, decides to ship her off to Atlanta, where Scarlett finds work at a hospital, caring for the wounded. Its not quite Scarletts ideal job, since most of the available men are either missing limbs or dying.

At a charity ball for the hospital Scarlett again encounters Rhett, and the two quickly become Atlantas most popular bit of gossip.

News arrives that Ashley has been captured. At the same time, Melanie is desperately ill with her pregnancy, and every day the sounds of battle inch closer, until finally cannonballs start landing in Atlantas streets. Scarlett assists at the birth of Melanies child, then leads a group of family, friends, and slaves on a dangerous escape back to Tara, the OHaras plantation. When she arrives, she finds her home has been ransacked, her mother has passed away, both her sisters are sick, and her father is going nuts.

This is it. Scarletts had it. Never again will she allow her family to suffer or to starve. The person she used to be, shallow, self-involved, is gone, and left in her place is a single-minded woman full of determination who will stop at nothing to safeguard her future. Even murder. Scarlett doesnt even hesitate when she shoots and kills a Yankee who has invaded their home.

When the war ends, Ashley returns to Tara, but after he and Scarlett share a passionate encounter, he tells her that he cannot, in good conscience, stay at Tara with his wife and child, under the thumb of Scarletts charity. But Scarlett needs manpower and, more important, money, if she is to keep Tara from the grubby carpetbaggers who have gained power and raised the taxes on her property. She begs Ashley to stay, and she leaves to talk to the only man with money at a time like this: Rhett Butler. Unfortunately, he is where all the good rogues wound up after the war, in a Yankee prison.

Rhett learns of her scheme and promises to leave all the money in his will for her after he is hanged. Scarlett wishes the Yankees would hurry up, then.

In a fit of panic over the fate of Tara, Scarlett convinces Frank Kennedy, a former Confederate, to marry her. When Frank falls ill, Scarlett takes over his business and becomes a ruthless entrepreneur, so desperate to make money that she even consorts with the Yankees and carpetbaggers in town, an act deemed unforgivable in the eyes of the Old Southern society.

Scarletts reckless independence leads to her being attacked one day by some squatters living in the woods. Avenging her honor, Ashley and her husband, Frank, raid the camp of squatters. Ashley is severely injured, and Frank is killed. For the first time, we see Scarlett suffer a flutter of grief and remorse. If only she hadnt been so stubborn and willful, Frank, her meal ticket, would still be alive.