The King of Small Spaces by Zeb Yarrowman

Dairy cows thanks to Dairybusiness.com

Title: The King of Small Spaces 

Author: Zeb Yarrowman

Publisher: not known 

Source book: Ninth House by Leigh Bardugo

Ninth House is the sort of book that throws you in the deep end without any explanation, or even asking if you can swim. Yes it’s about Alex, a girl in her freshman year at Yale, and yes it’s about secret societies or something, but what is it really about? As I write this, I haven’t found out yet. And I’ve got past page 100.

Anyway, there is an author called Zeb Yarrowman, who has written a very successful book called The King of Small Spaces. He wrote the book in his junior year, published it before he graduated, and apparently was the darling of the New York literary scene for several years running.

And he hasn’t written a word since.

Darlington (we don’t know who he is but he seems to have gone to Portugal - or not) tells Alex it isn’t a bad book. ‘Malaise, madness, young love, the usual bildungsroman fare, all set against the background of Zeb working at his uncle’s failing dairy. But the prose did impress’. Who talks like that?

I have a feeling I know what Darlington thinks about The King of Small Spaces. And I know what I think. It sounds like the sort of book that wins awards and hovers around the bestseller lists because people think they ought to buy it, but nobody actually reads. I certainly wouldn’t read it and I wouldn’t be pleased if anyone was daft enough to buy it for my birthday. You will have gathered I am a picky reader.

So, the unable-to-write writer comes back to his alma mater in search of some magic to help him write again. Wouldn’t we all? Well, would we though? And does it work?

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