Paradise Criticism

The only rubric you get as a judge for the Mambo is to select the best cohesive work of fiction. And so it's kind of up to you as a jury to decide what your criteria of excellence might be. I remember very clearly coming across the reading the sellout, which was, I think, number 20 in the mid-20s somewhere. And just thinking, well, this is just a great book that whatever your criteria, or whatever kind of post-facto critical judgment you kind of erect around it."