(no subject)

[trinityofone]

Dear editors of The Road--

Please turn your attention to page 35 of the first American edition, published by Alfred A. Knopf. The first sentence of the second paragraph reads as follows:

"They ate the little mushrooms together with the beans and drank tea and had tinned pears for their desert."

Really? I mean, I know an apocalypse has occurred, but I wasn't aware that that enables one to remake entire geographical features out of canned food products.

DESERT /= DESSERT! Were you guys all asleep that day? Did something about page 35 make you drowsy? What the hell?

And yeah, I know it's a little thing; I just really don't expect to find major typos in major works of literary fiction that I assume the author, proofreaders, editors, etc. have read more than once. It totally yanked me out of the story, guys!

I guess what I'm saying is, if you are having these problems, maybe you should consider hiring some different people. *coughmecough*

Because I, uh--I never make typos. Or at least I feel really ashamed when I do!

Please try to do better next time. I'm sure Mr. McCarthy would appreciate it, too.

Mildly appalled,

Trin

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Seriously, yo. Does anyone else feel, like, really shocked when they come across something that major in a published "literary" work? I mean, I get annoyed when I catch mistakes in some of the trashy sci-fi or fantasy I read, but I should not have to stop 35 pages into The Road to freak out about misspellings. Cannibals, maybe, but I haven't even gotten to them yet.

Alternately, I may just need a lot of therapy and, like, a course of dictionary deprivation.

ETA: Page 89:

"It's okay, he said. We just have to wait. But I think its okay."

You have it right, and then two sentences away, it's WRONG? JESUS CHRIST, PEOPLE! You're totally harshing my post-apocalyptic buzz.

Comments

[trinityofone.livejournal.com]

Mistakes in HBP surprise me less, because this is the same series that has brought us CAPSLOCK OF RAGE and Ron ejaculating. Not that the skills of the writer should really have much to do with the proofreaders doing their jobs, but I guess it does change my perception a little. That's kind of snobby and messed up--anyone can make a mistake. But c'mon, team of editors--catching that stuff is your job!