I’ve been thinking lately about an interaction I had with Monica Drake, who was lamenting some negative comments in a review of her book Clown Girl. The reviewer had said something about the book being over-the-top and its main character histrionic. Monica’s reply was something to the effect of, “Duh, it’s a book about a clown!”
(And Monica, I know you’ve got your Google Alert turned on, so when you read this please correct me on my paraphrasing. I’ve never been a very responsible journalist.)
I love writers that can do what Monica did, where the writing style matches the personas of its characters. The Catcher and the Rye was such a break-through because of this. IMHO, it’s an underappreciated trait.