Book Review: Sunset Song by Lewis Grassic Gibbon

[simply_shipping]

Title: Sunset Song (A Scots Quair #1)
Author: Lewis Grassic Gibbon (pseudonym for James Leslie Mitchell)
Pagecount: 248 (paperback)
Publisher: Polygon
Publishing date: April 9, 2006 (original published 1932)
Goodreads rating mean: 3.98 (161 ratings)
Goodreads rating mode: 5 (39%)
Goodreads rating median: 4
Publisher's summary: 'Oh, she hated and

Comments

Look, fool

[inverarity]

Dude.

You're being a really whiny and irrational child, losing your shit because someone didn't like a book that you like.

First of all, simply_shipping's criticism of this book was nothing like "criticizing MacBeth for glorifying knife crime." It was a personal reaction based on really bad writing of female characters, and she certainly acknowledged that the book had more layers than that.

That's not to say I hated all of the book. It had its good points. Chae telling Chris how Ewan really died was fantastically written and I loved it. I really did like the bit of married life Chris had before Ewan went off to war. I liked most of the scenes Long Rob and Chae were in - especially Long Rob. Once I figured out what most of the words meant, Grassic Gibbons's writing was wonderful (though I never quite got used to the lack of quotation marks).

That's not a hatchet job by someone who didn't read or understand the book. It's a fair and balanced review of a book that ultimately did not appeal to her.

You may find her criticism off-target. You may find it not very useful. But other people do, and they are entitled to discuss aspects of a book that you, personally, don't care about. You are not the arbiter of what is the true and correct opinion of a book, nor of whether or not a review is useful and interesting.

Look at all the reviews of classic books in this comm. Some people have trashed books that I happened to enjoy. Some people have really enjoyed books that I think suck.

There are many people who read a book widely regarded as a literary masterpiece and think it's crap. Nobody likes every "great book." And it's perfectly legitimate to shred it for the things you didn't like.

If you wanted to write a well-informed rebuttal, you could have argued why you think the book's literary qualities transcend any issues with the time period, or why the dialog was an essential component of Gibbon's style.

Instead, you went straight for insulting, condescending, sexist sneering. Because your opinion is so very important.

You are as bad as any butthurt fanboy screaming because someone criticized JRR Tolkien or J.K. Rowling. Guess what? The book you think is the greatest book in the world, some people are going to hate.

simply_shipping did not say "Anyone who likes this book is an asshole," but you created a sock account just to wave your micropenis around and flame people who didn't like a book you happen to like.

Work on that self-awareness.

Re: Look, fool

[simply_shipping]

inverarity, you said it all better than I ever could. So thanks. :)

(Also, jih68, in case you create another sock to reply after claiming to be done, I didn't call you a troll. I just told you to step on a LEGO. Which I hope you do. Repeatedly. Every day for the rest of eternity.)

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