Quote:
Originally Posted by neilmarr
Have you seen some of the scathing mainstream reviews in big newspapers, Richard? Sometimes -- as only this week -- one reviewer will rip apart a book by another reviewer, and the author will respond by ripping apart the review. It's nonsense. But nobody ever cares where a reviewer bought his copy, just that he actually read it.
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Neil, don't be sorry to disagree.
No, I haven't seen such reviews in any of my newspapers -- and that is one of my complaints. Next week I'll be publishing (already written) an article on my blog about how poor the reviews are in the
New York Times Sunday Book Review. The reviews are uninformative and give no guidance to the reader.
Too many reviews are in that class. I think reviews are rapidly becoming excuses for frustrated writers to simply write something that is published somewhere without regard for the literary merit of the review itself.