“Finally,” says Mr. Wyatt? No: what’s “finally” happening is that bigger-name writers like Ian McEwan and Reynolds Price and Jonathan Safron Foer have “finally” dipped their toes in the water. Big names–names Mr. Wyatt has perhaps already heard of?–and so “finally” Mr. Wyatt has a story.

The fact that Mr. Wyatt didn’t mention BETWEEN TWO RIVERS anywhere in the text of his article (he did, thankfully, include it in the sidebar roster of titles) indicates that he never read it. A shame, because–and, yes, I’m an unabashed hyperbolist, and an interested party; but nonetheless this is my true belief–NONE of the books he spoke about instead surpass either scope or the intimacy of what Nicholas Rinaldi accomplished in BETWEEN TWO RIVERS. Perhaps in a couple of years, when Richard Russo’s film of Rinaldi’s prior novel, JUKEBOX QUEEN OF MALTA, has made Rinaldi a household name, Wyatt will have the imagination–nay, the curiosity–to take note of the artistry, poetry, poignancy and–yes–humor of BETWEEN TWO RIVERS. Until then though–WORLD TAKE NOTE! “Literary Novelists Address 9/11–Finally.”