Hothouse: The Art of Survival and the Survival of Art at America's Most Celebrated Publishing House, Farrar, Straus, and Giroux

HOTHOUSE, by Boris Kachka.I wasn't sure if I'd like this book, an account of the history of one of the most prestigious publishing houses in America, Farrar, Strauss & Giroux, in its many names and guises over the years. But I did like it; in fact I liked it a lot. Because I am a booklover, and this is a book just made for people like me.There are anecdotes and stories galore here, and I knew right away I'd have fun with this book, and began immediately jotting down the names of books and authors I've known of for years, but still haven't read. Now I have a stronger resolve to read folks like Jean Stafford and Robert Lowell, and maybe I'll even finally give  On the Road: The Original Scroll (Penguin Classics Deluxe Edition)  another try. And Eileen Simpson's memoir,  Poets in Their Youth: A Memoir , sounds delicious. Sontag? I probably still wouldn't understand her stuff, but then I did enjoy reading  Sempre Susan: A Memoir of Susan Sontag , Sigrid Nunez's memoir of her time with Sontag, a book cited a couple times here, as Kachka has much to say about the close relationship Sontag enjoyed with publisher Roger Straus. And it brought back so many fond memories of FSG authors I have read, both recently and long ago - Flannery O'Connor, Philip Roth, Thomas Merton, Nelson Algren, Solzhenitsyn, and others. And, more recently, Jonathan Franzen and his disingenuous public "dis-ing" of Oprah.Plenty of people have already weighed in on HOTHOUSE, so I'm just gonna list a few favorite lines here. Like when editor Robert Giroux asked T.S. Eliot "Did he think it was true that most editors were failed writers? Tom supposed it was, but then so were most writers." I LOVED that!Or Giroux's coining of "the term 'ooks' to describe the 'not quite books' that dominated the bestseller lists and gift sections of bookstores."Or just the mentioning of newer old favorites of mine, like Oscar Hijuelos's  The Mambo Kings Play Songs of Love: A Novel  or Michael Cunningham's  A Home at the End of the World: A Novel . Kachka didn't have to dwell on names and titles like these; their mere mention evoked pleasurable memories. And this is much of the charm of HOTHOUSE - all these names, all these titles, famous and obscure alike.Another section which touched me deeply was that last conversation between Roger and his son, Rog (Roger III), finally acknowledging that the son was not coming back to FSG, that he did not want to inherit the family business. And then the phone call in which Roger arranged to sell the company to a large German conglomerate, the end of an era in publishing. I was reminded of my own father reaching a similar realization, fifty years ago, that none of his sons wanted his family business, built up over a twenty-year period. And so he sold it. Selling the family business, problems between fathers and sons. It's sad, but it happens.I have only barely brushed the surface of the myriad stories in HOTHOUSE, but for book enthusiasts, this is definitely a must-read. I am not surprised to see a cover endorsement from Larry McMurtry, whose own memoir (which I also loved) was called simply  Books: A Memoir . Highly recommended. (four and a half stars)- Tim Bazzett, author of the memoir, BOOKLOVER

I see this book as a love affair with the printed word. These are men with a passion for language and with a deep desire to leave an imprint on the world of ideas and literature. This book is also a chatty tale of the private lives which drove the publishing house; Farrar, Straus and Giroux. Farrar is famously quoted as saying, " many a man has been sent to his death by a badly constructed sentence. This is a publishing house whose iconic imprint of the three fishes promises,"You may or may not love this book, but we do." In today's market when "50% of the American market is controlled by four corporation", this premise is deeply comforting. As an amateur reviewer, I am enamored of this tradition, and conversely always ready for some back roomOur story begins with the contrast of the funerals of the subtle Giroux and the flamboyant Straus. The author then lays down the family backgrounds of the publishers. Straus hails from a venerated family From "our town". The background, while vital to understanding of Straus and his motivation, is complex to the point that I became bogged down. In fact, the family credentials of all the publishers can be Byzantine and a bit of a slog. For me, this costs this book a star.On the other hand the rest of the book is deeply engaging. While the cast remains large and enmeshed, the prose is more buoyant. Certainly through the book we are introduced deeply into the characters of the publishers. As a book lover, I am happily immersed in the stories about many of the great minds to be represented by this house. The history of the House is bolstered with historic references, notably the Holocaust and the subsequent struggle of ideologies. Straus cannot help be the recurring star of the dialogue with his outsized life style, often vulgar vocabulary, wanton affairs, fierce ambition. There is, however, room for the entire range of personalities portrayed in this literate, witty book. If you are reading this review, you likely share my love of this world. One citation notes that Straus is deeply pessimistic on the nature of man, but this makes him treasure the flare of beautiful ideas all the more. I recommend this trip into home of many a triumph of thought and ideas.

GOOD

I know so little about the publishing business even though I am an avid reader. So when I read Robert Gottlieb's review of it in The New Yorker, I was intrigued.Fiction can be, for me, less appealing than a really well-written novel. But this book was one I didn't want to put down when I got started. The men involved--Farrar, Straus (especially him) and Giroux are very well depicted and, I assume, accurately so. But more than being just about the rise of an amazing publishing house, this is also about the writers who published with FSG beginning back to World War II years. And the backdrop of wealth behind especially Roger Straus, Jr.All in all, a great read. Highly recommended to anyone who is an avid reader and has an interest in publishing houses which seem, today, to be far inferior to the likes of FSG.

Interesting account of one of the finest houses to exist in NY publishing. I particularly enjoyed the biography of the firm's most ebullient, charismatic member, Roger Straus. When he is out of the picture on these pages, the narrative seems to dim. My main caveat with this book is the somewhat elitist, "literary" tone, as if that rarified hothouse air may only be breathed by the cognoscenti located within a five-block radius in Manhattan. Still, it was interesting to read of the discovery of major artists such as Sontag, Didion, Wolfe, & Franzen. It's a window into another age when publishers released what they liked, based on quality and not focus groups.

For someone who has worked in publishing for many decades, this is fascinating. But Amazon.co.uk has the wrong book description.

REALLY INTERESTING AND UNUSUAL FOR ME READ.

Juicy.