Libby's sleazy book

[Christa]

have you seen anything on the news about it all?

[ThoughtCriminal]

1. You probably won't until he flips and rats out

Rove, Cheney and Bush. Then the smutty book will be all they talk about.

[babylonsister]

2. Yes. MSNBC had a segment earlier, with

a few choice sentences pulled for emphasis. But what I read here and saw there are all merging, so I can't help w/content.

[LSparkle]

3. Randi Rhodes was reading excerpts from it ... disgusting.

It describes bestiality, child prostitution, lots of REALLY sleazy, ILLEGAL stuff. And you know what they say, "write WHAT YOU KNOW."

[Skittles]

4. no and it really should be news

I've read excerpts and to say they are disturbing is an understatement

[Christa]

5. It should be main news

it's far worse than a blow job. :puke:

[Skittles]

6. how long has that book been out?

it wasn't known before?

[NYCGirl]

8. Since 1996, and it's currently out of print. NT

[NYCGirl]

9. Writing fiction is worse than a blow job in the oval office? NT

[Christa]

10. Yes, it is

if it is about child pornography and bestiality, and you are an elected official. Even if you are not,, it is disgusting. :puke:

[NYCGirl]

11. It's a book about 1903 Japan. It's fiction! Have you ever read any

Nabokov?

And I can tell from reviews, the book isn't ABOUT child pornography and bestiality. If you can tell everything about a book from a two paragraph excerpt, maybe you should sell your amazing skills to a publishing house.

[Skittles]

13. I've read more than reviews and a paragraph or two

like his love note to Ms. Miller, it sucks

[NYCGirl]

14. Do you have a copy? You can make lots of money from it.

And writing a bad novel is not criminal. There'd be LOTS of writers on death row if that were true.

[Skittles]

17. I said it was disturbing, not criminal

got a friend who got a transcript.....not my cup of tea for reading which is why I did not devour the whole thing

[Jed Dilligan]

25. Thank you!

I've been waiting for someone else to speak up and say this. I don't think Scooter intended the novel as porn. It has disturbing content, and we can wonder why he chose his subject matter. It's probably well-researched and somewhat accurate. I don't want to read it. There is no scandal, and no crime.

end of story

[NYCGirl]

7. Here's the review from Publisher's Weekly. Doesn't sound that lurid:

From Publishers Weekly
Although set in Japan in 1903, Libby's first novel avoids the exoticism and antiquarianism of James Clavell and sets its own tightly dreamlike tone. Setsuo, apprentice innkeeper at an isolated mountain hostel in Northern Japan, finds himself marooned with a dubious cast of travelers during a blizzard. His youthful naivete unfortunately draws him not only to a mysterious young woman with a band of itinerant performers but also to a half-frozen and half-crazed visitor. When this stranger flees back into the storm, Setsuo and another guest separately pursue him, leading to robbery and murder. With rumors of political intrigue enveloping the action and the apprentice in possession of a Macguffin as enigmatic as a haiku image, Libby maintains a sense of mystery and claustrophobia through pared-down prose and minimalist characterization. Setsuo's love interest, for instance, is simply the "girl in the cloak of yellow fur" for much of the novel. Even after he learns her name is Yukiko, her actions, history and motives remain ambiguous to the end. Spare and muted, Libby's debut has distilled his diplomatic experiences in Japan with the U.S. State and Defense Departments into a subtle, if sometimes attenuated, story of innocence and temptation halfway across the world and a century ago.

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0312284535/qid=1131487700/sr=8-1/ref=sr_8_xs_ap_i1_xgl14/002-4763989-5681634?v=glance&s=books&n=507846

[GregW]

15. LOL!! I read Setsuo and immediately thought of ...

[Stephanie]

12. Check out this caption >

Vice President Cheney's former top aide, Lewis 'Scooter' Libby (C), departs the federal court in Washington, D.C., November 3, 2005. A steamy novel by Libby has become a hot item now that Cheney's chief of staff is under indictment. REUTERS/Kevin Lamarque

http: //news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/051108/ids_photos_en/r257678398.jpg

[Beaverhausen]

16. Daily Show covered it...that's the only news I trust

[nicknameless]

18. This disgusting book violates the rules of both eBay and Amazon,

yet both sites are selling it.

I am very pissed that Libby is making money off of child porn.

[Monkey see Monkey Do]

19. How on earth does it violate

Amazon & eBay rules?

[nicknameless]

20. The book contains child pornography.

Both sites have rules banning the sale of such items.

In fact, according to eBay's guidelines:

Child pornography is illegal, and the possession or sale of such materials violates the law in many countries, including the United States.

[NYCGirl]

21. How do you explain they sell one of the greatest novels of all time,

"Lolita"? Much more underage sex in that book than in Libby's.

[Monkey see Monkey Do]

22. Writing about children engaging in sexual acts

does not consitute 'child pornography'. If it did, you'd wipe out stuff from "Romeo & Juliet" and "120 Days of Sodom" at one end, to most books about child abuse at the other.

(Incidentally, written child pornography is legal in the US, subject to obscenity laws -- a test case will hit the courts soon as the FBI shut down the website "Red Rose Stories" last month)

[nicknameless]

23. Also from eBay:

Obscenity. Obscene materials are not permitted on eBay, as they violate laws in the United States and many other countries. While obscenity is not easy to define and depends on the standards in your community, eBay prohibits items depicting bestiality, rape sex, incest, or sex with graphic violence or degradation.

[NYCGirl]

24. Obviously, ebay doesn't consider that material obscene.

Have you read it? Or just the two paragraphs in the news columns?

[Jed Dilligan]

26. It's not porn and it's not making money

It's bad literary fiction and it's out of print.