A Writer
Protests
April
29, 1992
Ms. Rebecca
Sinkler
Editor, Book Review
The New York Times
229 West 43 Street
New York, New York 10036
Dear Ms. Sinkler,
I really could
not have imagined that more than two months after your
letter (of February 26) assuring me that a review of my
The Miraculous Day of Amalia Gómez was "forthcoming,"
I would be writing you once again inquiring about that.
I wrote you a similar letter of inquiry earlier this last
month (April 6) asking whether you might extend your previous
courtesies to me in order to let me know the approximate
date when that review will appear. You'll remember that
at the time you wrote that you were not able to give me
a date but would "schedule as soon as possible."
I'm quite
embarrassed to continue to answer, "It's coming,"
when I'm asked by one or another of the many professional
associates and friends whom I told that my novel would
indeed be reviewed in your pages; and I did so only after
I had your assertion that that was the case.
I'm glad to
say that my novel continues to receive fine attention:
Along with an interview with me dealing in major part
with it, there's an excerpt from it in the May/June Poets
& Writers Magazine that just appeared. I've also
learned that my book is already included in several university
courses throughout the country.
I'll admit
that often wonder why this novel, which I would think
to be my least "controversial"--about Mexican-Americans,
and especially one, a woman named Amalia--should have
met with so much antipathy from your initial reader, especially
in view of the wide and enthusiastic praise it continues
to receive elsewhere.
I'm glad, nevertheless, that my book will be reviewed,
however belatedly; and I hope you don't consider it unreasonable
under the circumstances for me to once again to rely on
your past courtesy to me (in your letter and during your
telephone call) to inquire whether you are now in a position
to let me know when that review will appear. I would appreciate
that very much so that I won't continue to expect it each
and every week.
My best,
John Rechy
Note:
A review did finally appear in the New York Times
Book Review, though brief, dismissive, and one that
in a few lines, contained a glaring factual mistake, identifying
the setting of the novel as East Los Angeles," whereas
the first paragraph identifies the setting as Hollywood.
John Rechy's response to that review, which was published
as a rebuttal in the New York Times Book Review,
will be included on these pages in the coming weeks.
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Original material by John Rechy appears
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