Customer Reviews

Pushcart's Complete Rotten Reviews and Rejections: A History of Insult, A Solace to Writers (Revised & Expanded)

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This is clearly an update of "Rotten Rejections, The Letters That Publishers Wish They'd Never Sent", and it looks like much better value than the original, which was only 101 pages and cost me NZ$19.95. The original was both entertaining and a great tool to help keep a frustrated writer going in the face of nothing but rejections. A must-have for you if you fall into this category.

T.S. Eliot's work: flapdoodle? Ralph Waldo Emerson: a toothless baboon? Dylan Thomas: a pernicious figure? Bernard Malamud: superficial and unconvincing? Viriginia Woolf: dull? Yes, according to the critics and publishers quoted in this wonderfully comforting book. Isn't it nice that history -- and readers -- proved them all wrong?

A fun little book.Whether you're talking about books,movies,plays,art,music or anything else, there have been critics all through the ages who have made comments and assessments that time has proven to be totally off the mark.
In this little book, the reviews cited have come from the literary establishment;the writers about one another,publishers, and others such as professional reviewers from papers,journals and magazines.
As you go through this book you will find numerous books that hasve been the most successful;but "important" reviewers have missed completely their importance. The only plausable explanation has to be that their judgement was blinded by jealousy , deeply seated haterd and in some cases ,stupidity must be considered.
However;the whole world of reviews has now changed--thank God. All through the ages ,what the ordinary reader thought about a book was never heard. With the introduction of Customer Reviews by Amazon; now the voices of the readers themselves can be heard.
I have never been too much of a fan of editorial reviews for the simple reason that they tend to be too slanted towards the literary establishment.What is there to say that their opinion is any better than anyone elses;just because they are appointed and/or paid?
With Customer Reviews ,a whole world has opened up.I read many of them.There is usually something worthwhile in any of them.Some are simply excellent,and yes,some are pretty bad. But, then again,it's their opinion.
Forget about many of the things that have been written about the changes in books and the impact of the Internet;Amazon's introduction of Customer Reviews has to be one of the best,if not the best,thing that has come out of it all.
In the words of that great present day purveyor of rant and wisdom,Dennis Miller;
"Of course,that's my opinion.I could be wrong."

"A book is a mirror;if an ape looks into it,an apostle is unlikely to
look out." Georg Lichtenberg (1742-1799).

this is a great collection of bad reviews and rejection letters of great books and authors. it gives the unpublished writer hope, knowing that authors like dickens and joyce were rejected by publishers. and it's loaded with humor.

If the greatest authors of all can be rejected and survive, maybe there's hope for all unpublished authors. The publishing racket has only become harder and harder to break into these days, unless one is willing to go the route of electronic publishing and on-demand printing, both of which remain dangerously akin to vanity press printings as of this review. This wonderful little collection serves as a comic tonic to the rejection and review blues; although some of the authors are obscure today (which is my reason for not giving it full marks --it's hard to laugh when you have no idea what book is being rejected), overall it's a marvelous little read. Some examples of rotten rejections: Tony Hillerman was told to "get rid of all that Indian stuff"; J.G. Ballard was told "the author of this book is beyond psychiatric help"; William Faulkner was told about his novel "Sanctuary" "Good God, I can't publish this. We'd both be in jail."; and my favorite, "I'm sorry, Mr. Kipling, but you just don't know how to use the English language." When one considers that J.K Rowling had the first Harry Potter book rejected ten times before it was published, one has to wonder what publishers are thinking. Now you can see for yourself how badly they perceive literary quality, most of the time.

This is a quick pick-me-up for the discouraged author. It's not meant to be read cover to cover, but when the rejection slips start rolling in, grab it and read a couple of pages.

When I read a review by an author I know, or a review of an author I know, that was cool. Best of all is when an author I know bashed a book I'd read. But honestly, how many of these fit that description? Not enough. So you can just revel in the nastiness instead, but it has to be especially clever. Heck, I've read worse reviews of my own writing. Oh well. It's not a bad book. It's just not something you'd read twice. And how's that for a lukewarm damn-with-faint-praise review?