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Huh? We are talking about a PP book here, right!? Are you serious?supposedly graphic depiction of a one night stand
TB: The one of your books that’s received most strong comment for its content is The White Mercedes, recently republished as The Butterfly Tattoo.
PP: Yes, annoyingly. I wish they hadn’t done that.
TB: Why did they do that?
PP: The idea was, it was originally called The White Mercedes, a story about teenage love, basically; it’s a tragedy. When Macmillan republished it they said that the marketing people …if you have a story with the name of a car in the title, girls won’t read it. I merely report that! I goggled and said ‘what nonsense’ and they said ‘well, can we think of another title?’ I wasn’t particularly keen on the title The White Mercedes in the first place, but they told me it would help sell lots more copies if we called it The Butterfly Tattoo. Being unmotivated by anything but the highest motives I thought ‘jolly good, more money!’ so I agreed to it. But in fact it hasn’t done as well as it did when it was called The White Mercedes, so I think they were wrong. .. Your question wasn’t about the title, though, was it? It was about the content.
TB: It’s actually quite a graphic and unsettling tale of teenage love.
PP: Yes. Not as graphic in this country as it was in the States.
TB: Oh really?
PP: It was – I won’t say ‘censored’ in this country, but they suggested I tone down the sex scene a bit in this country. So I did, because the story didn’t entirely depend on the graphic qualities of the sex scene. But they didn’t suggest that in the States. In the States, you see, they have this category called ‘Young Adult’, and ‘young adult’ books can be full of sex, violence, rude language – whatever you like. If they’re called ‘teenage’ books or ‘children’s’ books they have to be very much more fussy about it, but because it was marketed as young adult I could be as rude as I liked.
TB: [to audience] Has anybody got an American edition? … I suppose
Not surprisingly, I got the North American edition. That's interesting, though, I always thought Americans were supposedly the most strict about things like that, and censoring them out of things meant for children or teenagers.Yes, not quite sure what PP meant by this. I mean, we have that catagory too. How rigidly are these catagories stuck to in the US, they're not really set in stone here.PP: In the States, you see, they have this category called ‘Young Adult’, and ‘young adult’ books can be full of sex, violence, rude language – whatever you like. If they’re called ‘teenage’ books or ‘children’s’ books they have to be very much more fussy about it, but because it was marketed as young adult I could be as rude as I liked.
o man, remember that scene, whew weee nc17 and my nan bought it for me hehe, poor women had no idea i was readin' that....hmmm...in the very end when what's his face picked up the knife after jenny was murdered what was he going to do? kill himself?...i mean that's the first thing u think of but when u think about it harder u can confuse u'rself...trust me..it happens to the best of us...unfortantly many many times in this case, butcha know just tell me what ya think.very serious, but i've read the the north american version which isn't as editted as the british version.
see http://www.avnet.co.uk/home/amaranth/Cr ... ullman.htm
TB: The one of your books that�s received most strong comment for its content is The White Mercedes, recently republished as The Butterfly Tattoo.
PP: Yes, annoyingly. I wish they hadn�t done that.
TB: Why did they do that?
PP: The idea was, it was originally called The White Mercedes, a story about teenage love, basically; it�s a tragedy. When Macmillan republished it they said that the marketing people �if you have a story with the name of a car in the title, girls won�t read it. I merely report that! I goggled and said �what nonsense� and they said �well, can we think of another title?� I wasn�t particularly keen on the title The White Mercedes in the first place, but they told me it would help sell lots more copies if we called it The Butterfly Tattoo. Being unmotivated by anything but the highest motives I thought �jolly good, more money!� so I agreed to it. But in fact it hasn�t done as well as it did when it was called The White Mercedes, so I think they were wrong. .. Your question wasn�t about the title, though, was it? It was about the content.
TB: It�s actually quite a graphic and unsettling tale of teenage love.
PP: Yes. Not as graphic in this country as it was in the States.
TB: Oh really?
PP: It was � I won�t say �censored� in this country, but they suggested I tone down the sex scene a bit in this country. So I did, because the story didn�t entirely depend on the graphic qualities of the sex scene. But they didn�t suggest that in the States. In the States, you see, they have this category called �Young Adult�, and �young adult� books can be full of sex, violence, rude language � whatever you like. If they�re called �teenage� books or �children�s� books they have to be very much more fussy about it, but because it was marketed as young adult I could be as rude as I liked.
TB: [to audience] Has anybody got an American edition? � I suppose