2 new reviews
12:37 PM PDT, April 20, 2009
I've recently reviewed two very different books: the novel American Rust and the non-fiction The Towering World of Jimmy Choo. They were both difficult to review, for opposite.
I liked American Rust a great deal, but I couldn't really verbalize exactly why, except that it's vividly written with strong characterization. I had a very hard time trying to form my impressions of the book into words. This probably means the author is a good one--skilled enough to not only draw the average reader into his work, but to hide the seams so well that you're not sure why it's such a good book. The Jimmy Choo book, on the other hand, was a train wreck. I really dislike reviewing books I don't like. Temperamentally, it's hard for me to take a knife to a book that someone worked on for years. Knowing how difficult writing is, I hate being confronted with proof that Sturgeon's Law is still valid: ninety percent of everything really is crap. Sometimes, no matter how carefully you screen your books, you will eventually dip into that lower 90%. As a writer, reading something awful (at least for me), triggers an underlying anxiety that perhaps you aren't one of the talented tenth. "Whoever wrote this thought it was pretty good," I think to myself, "So how do I know if my work isn't this terrible?" Sitting down to write the review with a heavy heart, I thought of Klingons. Yep, the horseshoe-crabheads from Star Trek. In particular, there was one episode (I think it was Heart of Glory), where a Klingon is going to die as a traitor and criminal, rather than face an honorable end in battle. When Worf objects to the head Klingon guy, he says quite gnomically, "When one of us dies like that, it dishonors us all." But they still had to do it, because right is right. That's how I feel reading--and reviewing--a bad book. Having been on the receiving end of a few negative reviews, I know how discouraging they can be, so I don't give the thumbs down without really, really having problems with a book. At least I don't do that Klingon death howl when I finish the review, although that would certainly be cathartic. |
Bio
I love how "writer, historian" is in quotes next to my name. I really am one of each--I've got a Ph.D. in US History from UCLA and I've written three books so far.
My website has a ton of info about my writing, professional, and creative work. So feel free to check it out at www.dieiscast.com. Oh yeah, there's more photos of casino carpets than you ever thought existed there, if you're into that sort of thing. As far as the writing goes, I'm hard at work on my fourth book, and regularly write shorter non-fiction pieces as well. |
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