The Unexpected Rewards Of Judging A Book By Its Cover

Earlier in this series, best-selling author Joshilyn Jackson encouraged listeners to judge a book solely by its cover, buy it and read it. On this edition of “Writer To Reader,” Jackson reports back with her experience after picking a book based on how it looked on the bookstore shelf. What she got was unexpected.

“When done right, a book cover’s job is to set your mouth for the literary bite you’re about to experience,” Jackson explains. The book she chose had a cover that she thought represented a lighter, well-written piece of women’s fiction. What she got, was significantly heavier.

“In retrospect, I didn’t get the book I thought I was getting.” Instead, Jackson says, it was a book about two women who are lifelong friends and grew up together in a slum. Turns out, the author of “My Brilliant Friend,” Elena Ferrante, is acknowledged to be one of Italy’s greatest living novelists. Instead of a light read, Jackson says the book is about “two girls in a cut-throat, necessary friendship, living in poverty in a place where women have little agency.”

And while she enjoyed the book, it made Jackson wonder. Does the book cover come across as more of a light romance because the author is a woman? What would it look like had a man been the author?