NY, Nov 24: To read the reviews of John Robert Lennon's novel Mailman you might assume he's rolling in cash, but despite four critically acclaimed books he's still waiting to hit the big time.
Entertainment Weekly called his latest book Mailman "a black comedy with sharper teeth than that Doberman on your block." The New York Times called it "both intricate and mesmerising" while The Times of London said: "Mailman is a total original: authentically weird and wonderful, and compulsively readable."
Despite those glowing reviews, the novel is only clocking in at about 27,000 on Amazon.com's bestseller list since its September release.
"When the next cheque comes, we really need it," Lennon said in an interview, adding that he makes a living, "Just barely. The reviews have been good. I hope at some point they translate into people buying the book."

That lack of commercial success could be because of the dark topics of his books - an unhinged mailman, the effect of a plane crash on friends and family of the victims, a dysfunctional family idealised in and tyrannized by a comic strip and the hard life of sheep ranchers.
The financial and popular success of his more famous namesake, deceased Beatle John Lennon, does not seem to portend a similar mass following for the author, who said he was named after his grandfather by parents who were blissfully unaware of popular culture.

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Lennon, 33, has been making his living as a novelist since his first book The Light of Falling Stars was published in 1997 and also wrote The Funnies and On the Night Plain. Although a rising star in literary circles, Lennon toils at his profession for modest rewards.

His first book brought an advance of $35,000, his second $50,000 and his third effort $80,000. Then his publisher dropped him and he sold Mailman for $50,000 to W.W. Norton.

Bureau Report