John Crace digested – twice

Fiction
‘So how come we’re in the same book?’ Paul from The Stranger’s Child asked Florence from On Chesil Beach.

‘Apparently,’ replied Florence looking up from the introduction to The 21st Century Digested, ‘the parodies of new books that John Crace has been doing in the Guardian since 2000 are now so popular that 131 of them have been turned into a hardback collection.’

‘Impressive,’ murmured Paul. ‘But one thing worries me. Once even Crace’s fans see them all together, won’t they be forced to realise that he relies on the same handful of tricks for almost every novel he takes on?’

‘You mean, like simply having the characters point out what’s wrong with the book in their dialogue?’

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‘That sort of thing.’

‘And what about the fact that Crace’s tone doesn’t vary much either? Personally, I like a short weekly blast of vitriol as much as the next caricature.