Wake me up when the book is over
August 6, 2008
The award for most boring cover design on a fiction title goes to… America, America: A Novel by Ethan Canin. Snoozefest.
The cliche art, the clunky transparent white area behind the title, the uninspired choice of De Vinne for the type, the flat black and white text colors, the blah placement of the text. This looks like a completely uninteresting book.
Surprisingly, though, that doesn’t seem to be the case. The reviews I’ve seen about this book are all raves. There are no less than 29 enthusiastic blurbs on the Amazon page. And my local Barnes & Noble hung a giant version of the cover in its front windows (which is why I noticed it in the first place).
Usually a book by an acclaimed author that gets the full PR push from the publisher tries a little harder in the cover department. I wonder what went on here?
