Ravel Is Short

RAVEL is one of those short novels I like: 117 pages, and it STARTS on page 11! That's a great trick. There's a mention of Oxford, Mississippi on page 23 of RAVEL. According to the copy on the dust jacket flap, George Gershwin is due to make an appearance at some point. He was the subject of a very long book that I read, though not as long as THE EXECUTIONER'S SONG. My copy of RAVEL has a bright, clumsy red sticker affixed to the cover. It reads, "With a foreword by Adam Gopnik." Nothing against Adam Gopnik, who would be a great choice to write the foreword of ANY book, but the urgency seemed comical somehow - mass producing a big red sticker like that and affixing it to book covers by hand or by machine ... Well, you wanted a "blog." This is what you get.