The second novel will never be reviewed well when your first was praised inordinately. (though notice Mallon's barely concealed zeal at goring Smith over her age – 'Twenty-six!' – then his play at being her only friend – 'I expect that more than one review of Smith's new book will carry the title 'Pulling Teeth,' and whenever I see it, I'll wince for the twenty-six-year-old author' – the only one, therefore, wise enough to put her in her place: 'no one, she needs to be reminded, has talent to burn.')
