Snooki Publishes a Novel

*Originally published on 1/18/11



The literary community was sent reeling when Nicole "Snooki" Polizzi released her first novel. It's called A Shore Thing, and is now available in book stores across the country.

From what I can gather from the product summary, the work is a Roman a' Clef. That is to say that, while it's not a biography in the stricter sense, it is basically a story about characters who act like her and her Jersey Shore compatriots.

Now, there are several ways to look at this. Fans of the show, are of course, going to be excited and will pick up the book with little hesitation.

On the other side of the fence, you have the rabid anti-fan base (or what I guess Snooki would dub "the haters"), who will bemoan this book's existence and see it as a sign of the fall of society as we know it. In short, to borrow a phrase, haters are gonna hate.

I, myself, have never seen the show. As such, I prefer to think of myself as indifferent. Sure, I have no intention or interest in ever watching the show, but I find it hard to develop hatred for something that I've never seen, nor will I ever see. It's what Dante and Randal dubbed "the Ostrich Syndrome" in Kevin Smith's Clerks; if I don't see it, it isn't there.

Even taking this into consideration, I can't help but face palm at this news. I mean, really?

OK, maybe I'm being unfair. Maybe Snooki has had a lifelong love of writing and has a talent that has heretofore been unable to show itself. Many wish that were the case, but the article which informed me of this development (which I linked to below) provides excerpts of the novel, and, well, you should see for yourself.

The quote that really stands out in my opinion is, "Johnny Hulk tasted like fresh gorilla".

...What.

Maybe this is the cranky old man in me talking, but I don't know what that means, at all. I'm trying to make some sense of it and am just coming up blank. I..just...what?

There is a bright side to all of this. Hard as it may be to believe to some, this particular cloud does have a silver lining. As a writer, I can't help but be inspired by this. I mean, if this book can get published and become a best seller (and my spider-sense is telling me that it will), than surely, a moderately competent writer can do the same.

It's an approach I also had with Tommy Wiseau's cult classic film, The Room. If a movie like that can get funding ($6 million worth of funding no less) or Snooki can get a novel published, than there is hope for the rest of us to, perhaps, one day do the same.

It may not be much, maybe I'm grasping at straws, but it's all I've got.