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| Hearsay: |
I felt this one might generate some discussion, so I thought it needed its own post. The real problem isn’t snarky negative reviews, the real problem is false positives. Have at it.
This brings us to the least-discussed subject in the world of belles-lettres: book reviews that any author worth his salt knows are unjustifiably enthusiastic. Authors are always complaining that reviewers missed the whole point of “Few Mourn the Caballero,” or took the quote about the merry leper ballerinas out of context, or overlooked the allusions to Octave Mirbeau, or didn’t mention that the author once jilted the critic after he kept begging her to go out on a double date dressed as one of the Boleyn sisters. Authors are always complaining that reviewers maliciously cited the least incandescent, least Pushkinian passages in the book, or have a grudge against them because of something that happened the night the Khmer Rouge or Joy Division broke up, or only said mean things because the author went to Exeter while the reviewer had to settle for Andover.
What makes this bellyaching so unseemly is that the vast majority of book reviews are favorable, even though the vast majority of books deserve little praise. Authors know that even if one reviewer hates a book, the next 10 will roll over like pooches and insist it’s not only incandescent but luminous, too. Reviewers tend to err on the side of caution, fearing reprisals down the road. Also, because they generally receive but a pittance for their efforts, they tend to view these assignments as a chore and write reviews that read like term papers or reworded press releases churned out by auxiliary sales reps. This is particularly true in the mystery genre, where the last negative review was written in 1943.
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November 17th, 2008 at 2:13 pm
It’s true, in the crime fiction genre we have recommendations, not reviews.
Also, any review of a mystery novel accepts that one book is only part of a whole. In literature it’s called a “cycle” when more than one book has the same main character and in mysteries it’s called a “series.” So, it’s tough to speak to things like character development and themes within one book. All that can get reviewed then is plot, leading to the misunderstanding that mystery fiction is too plot oriented.
Still, there have been plenty of articles that slam the whole genre of crime fiction since 1943.
Though I guess that’s not the part of the article you were looking for comments on.
November 17th, 2008 at 4:22 pm
“Would That The Khedive Had Not Overslept”. Ha.
A luminous article.
November 17th, 2008 at 4:38 pm
Another explanation is that critics may tend to review books for which they have some inclination to like in the first place — a sort of self-fulfilling prophecy.
Take James Wood, for instance. He states in an interview with Robert Birnbaum in The Morning News that once he meets someone in person, he’ll only review their work if he’s in love with it. [see link above]
I suspect that if this attitude is common with other critics, it could partially explain the pervasiveness of unjustifiable and enthusiastic false positives.
November 17th, 2008 at 7:21 pm
The bigger question is whether the problem is evaluative reviews, period.
November 17th, 2008 at 7:30 pm
The problem is evaluative reviews, period.
November 17th, 2008 at 8:48 pm
Bullshit.
November 18th, 2008 at 9:31 am
You make a compelling argument.
November 18th, 2008 at 11:09 am
Now, now Zach. That’s very evaluative of you.
November 18th, 2008 at 11:27 am
“Authors know that even if one reviewer hates a book, the next 10 will roll over like pooches and insist it’s not only incandescent but luminous, too.”
Given the declining number of places where books get reviewed, the idea that a book might give 11 reviews is laughable. One place in Canada which does dish out the occasional snarky review is Quill and Quire, BTW, perhaps because its mandate is review nearly everything that is published in Canada
Mary
who’s been both a giver and a receiver of bad reviews
November 18th, 2008 at 11:43 am
“Another explanation is that critics may tend to review books for which they have some inclination to like in the first place — a sort of self-fulfilling prophecy.”
Mark – quoted for truth.
Especially so in a system where the vast (vast!) majority of reviewers are freelancers, desperately pitching one books section after another. Am I going to agressively pitch a title that I’m not interested in reading? Hardly. Am I going to pitch a title from an author whose previous books I loathed? Not likely.
It doesn’t, as you suggest, result in a false positive review, but in a higher percentage of positive reviews over a reviewer’s body of work than would likely be the case if reviews were assigned more than pitches agreed to. And even reviews of books of interest and pitched aren’t de facto positive — each book on its merits, regardless of my initial interest in it. There are certainly negative reviews of books that I was keen on reading/reviewing, as should be the case (it’s got to the point where I drink in corners and with my back to the wall at prize galas and the like, the better to avoid a punch to the back of the head — if the list of negatively reviewed authors gets much longer, I’m gonna have to start staying home).
November 18th, 2008 at 1:36 pm
What are these “reviews” you speak of?
November 18th, 2008 at 1:45 pm
There has been much on this topic around the blog-o-sphere of late and I agree that there are a lot of “false positives” going around. While I don’t follow any professional reviews, the internet is filled with book bloggers terrified that they may trample on someone’s toes or hurt someone’s feelings.
November 18th, 2008 at 5:29 pm
And then there’s a certain “women’s” paper that recently pledged to publish only positive book reviews. Yes, you read that correctly. If you can’t say anything nice…One more market gone, and the critical dilution continues.