Revelatory.

Many academics are clinical prose stylists, but Sinykin writes with verve and narrative flair as he documents the consolidation of the major publishing houses.

He wants to demonstrate...how the process of authoring a book has become subsumed by a larger and larger network of interests, changing what it meant to be an author. Critics and scholars, Sinykin contends, are uncomfortable displacing the author when studying literature. His book is an earnest attempt to focus attention on the non-authorial figures involved in a book’s creation.

Let me be clear: Sinykin’s book is delightful, smart, and teeming with insights. As a concise historical survey of changes within the publishing business over the past half century, it is invaluable. That said, although his book raises a very compelling question, it tellingly and consistently fails to offer any satisfying answers. More than anything, the book demonstrates how very difficult it will be for us to attain any real understanding of how the structures of the publishing industry affect the contents of books. One of the many successful qualities of Big Fiction is that it moves briskly from one topic to another, but that can make pinning down Sinykin’s key points a bit difficult. Flipping back and forth, one finds that he focuses on a few main 'consequences' of conglomeration that he says 'stand out' from all of the others when it comes to the literary effects of this industry change.

Rich.