Thread 27 : To feel disappointed - and disgusted and vindicated now too - after reading this in The Observer about the author and her husband from The Salt Path book and film?

Thank you so much @MrKippling thats really good to know. So The Works publish their own copies (thank you @Vroomfondleswaistcoat for that information!) and could’ve therefore rewritten the summary to reflect the current news. They could also have scrapped the original book reviews and tried to find some new ones. I’m disappointed with this. They’ve had to find a new illustrator for the cover, so why not? Also I’m begging the question, why bother in the first place?

Amazing that the article below makes no reference to the fact that there has been a bit of "controversy" over TSP in the UK over the past year or so! However, it doesn't claim that the film/book is based on a 'true' story.

Jason Isaacs on ‘The Salt Path’: Love, loss and finding healing in nature - Metro Philadelphia

It is a pity to read JI using his talent for communication to skate over the hollowness of this tale.

Agree, that's an excellent little (as in, readably short) article!

GA in TSP up for an Oscar?

Review: Could 'The Salt Path' Earn Gillian Anderson Her First Oscar Nomination? - Awards Buzz

I certainly hope that is complete conjecture regarding GA being a possible Oscar nominee. I always thought the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences were 'rather sniffy' about biographical films being worthy Oscar winners (I know there have been exceptions)

I am not criticising GA as an actor, but considering the course material and the script that she had to work with, it is very much a 'by rote' performance, which reminds me of Dorothy Parker's criticism of Katharine Hepburn that her performance "ran the whole gamut of emotions from A to B" and that is also applicable to TSP film.

Of course Sal was disappointed when she looked in the mirror and didn’t see Gillian. She’d fallen in love with the actress’ portrayal of her fictional self. If Gillian could play the real Sal, she would get an Oscar! 😀

@MrKippling - I agree. It's purely conjectural and likely more of a piece of advertising for the film than a genuine article wondering about the possibility. I honestly don't think there's a cat's chance in hell of any Oscars for that rather banal and quotidian film. Or maybe cinematography, if there has to be a nomination, because the setting is pretty.

I'm over on the David Walliams thread, pointing out that, while he has been fired from his publisher and his backlist is being withdrawn (quite rightly too), that Sal's On Winter Hill is still being advertised for forthcoming sale.

While Walliams is obliquely accused of sexual misconduct, surely theft and fraud has to come a close second - yet Sal continues to be for sale and is still 'unflinchingly truthful'.

Yes, that annoys me too @Vroomfondleswaistcoat . Why isn’t she receiving the same treatment?

Is it just because it's more 'trendy' to be cancelling writers who've behaved in a sexually-inappropriate way? I mean, as far as I am aware, none of the DW stuff has been investigated by the police? Which, I am aware, doesn't mean he hasn't broken any laws... but Sal has demonstrably lied (and in her actual BOOKS), committed both theft and fraud, and yet everyone is turning a blind eye, because - why? Pretty covers and a picturesque setting? When just about every word she writes is either a lie or ripped off from another book?

I agree @Vroomfondleswaistcoat and I just can’t understand it. You’re probably right. Even though she was a complete unknown unlike Walliams, she became quite the opposite and they all benefitted from her new life as a celebrity guru. Gigspanner and Angela Harding and the PSPA charity have stopped wanting to work with her but that’s not enough for Penguin or The Works to stop publishing or endorsing her or for her to stop trying to “reach out” using her SM channels. What can any of them think she can possibly have to say that will continue to sell books? Why has she been forgiven for peddling so many lies about their circumstances and her husband’s health? There is no inspirational story here unless illegal activity counts, but it seems that for some people it’s their own reactions to what is essentially a work of fiction that has given them something. They might just as well be inspired to go on a journey after reading The Hobbit. Incidentally some people have very low bars indeed. Having spent a good many years working in schools, the desperation to “get boys to read” and not caring from what material that came from, is what made Walliams a popular author. I wonder what will replace him?

“Moth” wasn’t cured of a terminal illness by walking and by lying that he was they not just dashed people’s hopes but are responsible for causing people who actually need to adhere to medical advice to ignore it and cause themselves harm. It would seem that peddling a potentially life threatening message to severely disabled people has not caused her to have her books removed from shelves or cancelled for future publication and the next one might have been paused but it is all still being branded as honest! “Moth” was even given allowances by women he had his paws on, due the fact that he’d supposedly stood up to Death and shaken his fist at it. I’m not accusing him of sexual misconduct, but barriers were lowered due to the story the pair of them sold everyone.

@HatStickBoots - well, exactly.

Either we are separating the artist from their art, in which case Sal's feeble pleadings about 'my truth' are being given credence and her books continue on sale, or we aren't and DW is being cancelled despite writng books enjoyed by many thousands of children, because of alleged wrongdoing on the part of the author.

Totally agree. Sal’s art, such as it is, is simply having the gift of being able to fool people, same with Tim. Yes, Walliams’ books along with Quentin Blake’s illustrations have been extremely popular with children and to get some of them interested in books at all is no mean feat.

Just had a horrible thought @Vroomfondleswaistcoat that Ai could potentially be used to create children’s books in his style instead of another author filling the gap. Ugh. I’m a bit out of the loop now and don’t know what other authors are popular with that age group.

Reviews of TSP in the US seem pretty downbeat!

The Salt Path: Deeply Flawed Drama Paved with Good Intentions — Original Cin

It does look as though the Americans are seeing through the flimsy fabric that constructed this whole tale.

Interview with JI with zero mention of the controversy surrounding the book and film!

I would assume that JI and GA have been told not to comment on any of the negative stuff. They will be contractually obliged to be positive and upbeat about any new release. You very rarely hear anyone on the publicity circuit talking about what a nightmare to make a film was, how everyone fell out with everyone else and the director was drunk every day. It's all about how lovely it all was and how good friends the crew have become/

They lie, basically. Because it's their job.

"Is the indomitable human spirit enough to indomitable one’s way out of a terminal illness?"

Haha, loved that! 😂

Bringing this over, with some additions, from a thread discussing Earl Spencer's book, where I'd posted:
Once again, in the style of The Salt Path, the publishing industry gets caught out due to its failure to proof read and fact check. The error is obvious once flagged and all the relevant information was in the public domain. Hope Morgan takes them to the cleaners. Charles S will need to look elsewhere for his retirement payday. Maybe his favourite nephew is good for a loan? 😆

I'm genuinely surprised that fact checking like this was so poorly done for a) such a high profile book and b) for statements relating to, let's say, individuals known to be combative. What were Penguin doing? Morgan is asking for the book to be pulped. Perhaps this, finally, will be the expensive lesson the publishing industry needs. Might give them pause for thought about On Winter Hill too.

It does increasingly seem that publishers are just 'taking the authors word for it' and letting things go. Which is absurd when I got an editor querying in my most recent plot where I'd mentioned an actor's name, whether we were actually allowed to use his name? I pointed out that as long as we aren't bringing him into disrepute then of COURSE we can use his name - but this was me, the author, telling the editor, who surely should know better than me!