Hit Lit: Cracking the Code of the Twentieth Century's Biggest Bestsellers

Summary (from the publisher): What do Michael Corleone, Jack Ryan, and Scout Finch have in common? Creative writing professor and thriller writer James W. Hall knows. Now, in this entertaining, revelatory book, he reveals how bestsellers work, using twelve twentieth-century blockbusters as case studies—includingThe Godfather, Gone with the Wind, To Kill a Mockingbird, and Jaws. From tempting glimpses inside secret societies, such as submariners inThe Hunt for Red October, and Opus Dei in The Da Vinci Code, to vivid representations of the American Dream and its opposite—the American Nightmare—in novels like The Firm and The Dead Zone, Hall identifies the common features of mega-bestsellers. Including fascinating and little-known facts about some of the most beloved books of the last century, Hit Lit is a must-read for fiction lovers and aspiring writers alike, and makes us think anew about why we love the books we love.


Review: I won this book as a giveaway on Goodreads. 


I was intrigued by the premise of this novel - Hall analyzes 12 mega bestsellers to dissect what makes a bestseller a success. However, this novel fell flat for me. First of all, I think Hall took on too many books to discuss in too little space. Discussing the plots, characters, etc. of 12 novels is a lot to cover and puts a lot of burden on the reader to be able to remember 12 separate story lines. I've only read 5 of the 12 books discussed, and I think this book would be better appreciated by someone who had read them all. Plus if you haven't read them, this book reveals their plots in their entirety so it spoiled the books I haven't read for me.


Further, I felt that the analysis in this book was less than persuasive. None of the analysis was very deep or anything that I couldn't have proposed in a discussion or reflection myself on what makes popular novels popular - inclusion of sex, religion, bold characters, etc. Hall spends the majority of this book giving a short paragraph on a common feature of bestsellers and then the rest of the chapter doing plot summary examples for twelve books. It felt chaotic and it was difficult to read as Hall jumps from novel to novel in the space of a short chapter. I think structurally I would have preferred if Hall had discussed each novel separately in their own chapters rather than lumping them all together throughout. 


One other thing that bothered me was the cover. I know its not a big deal, but the cover is designed with the books discussed within spelling out the word Hit Lit. 11 of the 12 books are pictured, with al but The Firm pictured. It just bugged me that one was missing. It just added to my overall irritation with this book.


I wouldn't recommend this book. I think the topic is better suited for a college classroom discussion than a short book.


Stars: 2