Jesse Tisch writes for JBooks.com:
Nathan Englander is the George W. Bush of literary novelists. Like our faith-based president, he bends and melds reality to his whims. Because he avoids research—crimps the imagination—he writes the kind of set-pieces that impress readers more than fact-checkers.
So it’s not shocking that two scenes from his new book—both surgeries—are described in technical detail, but aren’t technically accurate.
“I had somebody check it, and they were like: ‘totally wrong,’” Englander recalled recently. “And I was like, in my heart it’s right; I know you’re wrong.”
So he ended up getting… a second opinion.
“This is so embarrassing to say—but I sometimes believe things have to be true if you’ve dreamed them enough.”
