Obiwu has framed the question. Some reviews have to be "bad" precisely because the work they're evaluating is--no other way to put it--bad.
Some years ago, Dale Peck famoulsy began a review of a so-called memoir by Rick Moody with this bracing sentence: "Rick Moody is the worst writer of his generation." Here's the full review: http://www.tnr.com/article/books-and-arts/the-moody-blues. And that opening sentence is one of the kinder ones in that review. But guess what? I went to the bookstore a few days later and read Moody's book that provoked that caustic, barbed dismissal. After reading three or four pages, I left with the impression that Dale Peck deserved a prize and a nice bottle of wine (or else a visit to what our people call psychia) for wading through the Moodian confection of nonsense.
Peck's review raised some (bad) writers' hackles. A lot of these writers--many of them Moody-like or Moody-wanna-be's--pecked at Peck. But as VS Naipaul might say, the book (and the review) is what it is.
ON
From: Obiwu <obiwu@yahoo.com>
To: Ikhide <xokigbo@yahoo.com>; USAAfricaDialogue@googlegroups.com; Ederi@yahoogroups.com
Sent: Monday, April 2, 2012 2:47 PM
Subject: Re: [Ederi] Arthur Krystal: Should Writers Reply to Reviewers?
But is a bad review a badly written review, or a review that calls a bad work what it is? |
From: Ikhide <xokigbo@yahoo.com>;
To: USAAfricaDialogue@googlegroups.com <USAAfricaDialogue@googlegroups.com>; Ederi@yahoogroups.com <Ederi@yahoogroups.com>;
Subject: [Ederi] Arthur Krystal: Should Writers Reply to Reviewers?
Sent: Mon, Apr 2, 2012 5:12:54 PM
| "And while we're on the subject, let's put to rest another misconception: A bad review is not—I repeat, is not—better than no review at all. Where does such homiletic bunk come from? Yes, it's better to be indifferently noticed than completely neglected, but the law of diminishing returns kicks in once the reviewer begins to lord it over the book. And while a bad review will sell more books than no review at all, it will not sell many and certainly not enough to compensate the author for seeing his or her work publicly slighted or, worse, mangled." - Ikhide Stalk my blog at www.xokigbo.com Follow me on Twitter: @ikhide Join me on Facebook: www.facebook.com/ikhide |
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