Now we know for sure that Ayelet Waldman can't write. Not that it matters, not with all those erections and garter belts, it's got "best seller" oozing out of every sweaty pore. But I do hope that Salon will be an equal opportunity offender and allow Nicholas Sparks to publish an extract from his next work here too. If he wants to, of course ...

I really hate to be rude, and I doubt I could do a better job, but, um. Yeah. Not so good. And I wouldn't normally comment on bad writing, but why is it here?

With all the writers out there, how does AW keep getting her work splashed around in Salon? What is going on?

I kept checking to make sure that this piece was actually billed as a 'novel excerpt', as it was so mediocre, fussy and ponderous that I assumed it must be some throwaway article. Who could possibly find this writer appealing, and why?

What particularly struck me - the heroine speaks in exactly the same sticky, hyper-sensualized way about Jack as Ayelet does about her own child.

Creepy.

I could have written this drivel. It's porn, then the author is moralizing from her garter-belted soap box. This truly is terrible. Please, no more.

Surely Salon could have found a better novel to excerpt? This is truly awful, self-indulgent, poorly written rubbish.

I think Salon's readers have made it abundantly clear in recent months that WE ARE SICK OF AYELET. Her prose is mediocre, at best, and her weltanschauung is a loose patchwork of histrionics, solipsistic sentimentality and ill-considered opinions. The greater demographics for whom she speaks -- writers, women, mothers, Jews, and the citizens of Berkeley, CA -- are ultimately undermined and derogated by her inanity. She is one of the reasons I have started opting for Slate (et al) over Salon, and will likely not renew my Premium subscription next year. DEAR EDITORS OF SALON: THE PEOPLE HAVE SPOKEN, AND THEY HAVE SAID: "ENOUGH AYELET, ALREADY!" She is horrible. She needs to grow up. So either find a way to get Mr. Chabon to start spanking her on a regular basis, or stop publishing her inspipid schlock.

How many times do you need to hear it? Many, many people, myself included, are not renewing their Premium subscriptions because of Ayelet Waldman. Sure, her dreadful contributions get lots of hits, but is increased site traffic from non-subscribers really what you're going for here?

So many up and coming writers who could benefit from exposure on Salon, yet we continue to get these weekly contributions from Ayelet Waldman. I don't expect to like everything I read on Salon, and I don't have to read her columns (although I do, it's the train-wreck effect), but wouldn't the space be better utilized, and Salon's readership better served, by introducing us to a wide variety of aspiring local authors, instead of just the one (who seems to have outlasted her welcome, judging by the above letters)? There are several well-respected creative writing MFA programs in the Bay Area; I'm sure they'd be happy to refer you to a few of their talented products.

I think thats a little drastic. I'll admit I can't stand her writing- the stuff about her son makes me want to brush my teeth- but we don't *have* to read her, you know. There are plenty of reasons to continue to subscribe, not the least of which is the need to support an independent press and journalism that stands up to this atrocious administration. Definitely write to the editors and ask what the hell Ayelet Waldman has on them that they post her writing, but don't go away!

Well, at least we can agree that Ms. Chabon's prose is no different from her reporting. She has a documented track record of blogging her self-admitted suicide note, her creepy ideas of 'displaying affection' to her little son, and now her incredible familiarity with pathological infidelity.

I think it's time to remind Salon.com's editors they will share in the responsibility for her imminent and, of course, very public crash and burn when her pathological behavior finally moves from these cries for help into overt, self-destructive behavior. That is assuming she's not already been there, done that and Michael hasn't yet figured it out.

Shame on Salon.com for continuing to profit from this person's descent into her own tortured self. She is a train wreck in progress; the least her editors can do is to insist she gets the help she so desperately needs, from someone who will actually edit her work to a therapist who can help her and her children before serious damage is done.

I liked this site so much better when it thought it was "Brill's" instead of "People."

and keep hoping that Michael Chabon will contribute!

Poor Ayelet, she just can't get a break can she? After reading the few pages of her latest, all I can say is: "Ho-hum. Yawn. Anything else to read out there?"

I disagree with the LWs who say this is horrible. It isn't horrible. It just does not merit such promotion on Salon.

It does not seem like a particularly original or insightful piece of writing. Even the premise does not quite work. The older man/younger woman scenario works if he is, say, 50 and she is in her twenties. But, this is no May/December romance, Ayelet. Her "older" lover is forty and she is thirty! Is that even considered an age difference nowadays? And, as a forty-year old man, I can tell you that the mid-life crisis scenario does not apply. A thirty-year old woman is not a forty-year old man's red Porche. His 5-series BMW, perhaps, but not a red Porche.

I don't know what the rest of the novel is like, but as far as plots go, adulterous affairs are pretty played out. This exerpt does not say anything that has not already been said, seen and done.

All that having been said, Ayelet, congratulations on finishing and publishing your novel. The stuff about her dad is good.