Does anyone read the New York Sun? I do now that I spent part of the last three days checking to see if Meghan Clyne’s article, for which I was interviewed, made it onto newsprint (or more to the point, into the web edition).

And what do you know? Her piece,  "Envy is in Air Surrounding Writer’s House," is in the May 2nd issue of the Sun.

Clyne seems to have rounded up quite a few local authors for her piece about the scuttlebutt surrounding Jonathan Safran Foer and Nicole Strauss’ purchase of a house and two lots on Second and Third Streets.  Lynn Harris, author of "Breakup Girl to the Rescue! A Superhero’s Guide to Love, and Lack Thereof," told Clyne:  "I’m envious of him because his house is extremely expensive and incredibly close to mine."

The author’s age seemed to be a humorous (or not so humorous) bone of contention for Ms. Harris: "What is he, 19 now? He should at least have a starter mansion first." .

"To Ms. Harris Mr. Foer’s new mansion symbolizes the objectionable aspects of his fiction. ‘What people say specifically is that his writing is precious and self-important … and it just makes me think that therefore he must have a precious and self-important brownstone,’ she said."

Nasty, nasty.

Clyne’s article did provide some much needed facts about the real estate deal. Doulgas Ellman Real Estate confirms that the Foer’s new residence is 7000-square feet and that it occupies not two but THREE lots. The garden alone covers a pair of 40-by-100-foot lots. For Clyne’s article, Douglas Elliman would not comment on the sale. But according to one of Clyne’s sources,  "the closing on the townhouse was not yet final, but the payment negotiated was less than $6.75 million."

THREE LOTS. They may have gotten a good deal afterall.

According to Clyne’s piece, and something I didn’t know: Jonathan Safran Foer was listed as one of the 50 most Loathesome New Yorkers in the New York Press article of the same name in 2003.  "He’s so precious, over-the-top," Alexander Zaitchik, editor of the New York Press said of Mr. Foer. "You just want to punch the guy every time he opens his mouth for an interview."

It’s the New York Press that really has the low-down on Foer’s book advances and movie deals: Ready for some sour grapes, friends?  New York Press writer Harry Siegel, reported that the novelist received a $500,000 advance for his first book, "Everything Is Illuminated"; $1 million for the movie rights (the film is to be released in August), and another $1 million for "Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close."

My quote seems to fit into the portion of Clyne’s article that begins:  "Mr. Foer’s purchase as a landmark event in a real-estate boom that has been sowing hostility in those it has left behind, writers or not:"

And here’s where I come in:

"A Park Slope writer who says she was inside the residence, pre-Foers, during a house tour, Louise Crawford, said: "It’s hard for those of us living in our little apartments, with all of our envy, … feeling marginalized by this real-estate climate, to see anyone in that house."

I guess I said something like that. I should have been taking notes. But being the interviewee and not the interviewer, I was a tad flustered.

I must say, Clyne did manage to pull an article out of her debatable premise that the Park Slope literati is fuming about the Foer/Krauss purchase. I think it’s a stretch, but it is definitely having its 15 minutes.   

And so am I.  I wonder if anyone else read the article in the Sun?

-Louise G. Crawford