Comments | bookfails: JAG = Just Awful & Gross

latenite_snacks in bookfails

JAG = Just Awful & Gross

Jul 13, 2011 23:32

A month ago I received an Advance Reader's Copy of a book that I really didn't enjoy. I wrote a review of it on GoodReads which I'll post here in its entirety :

( badbadbad (hilariously, that's actually the name of the book) )

buy this or you die says company, because sometimes it's not just the book, books in the media

Comments 41

fabricalchemist July 14 2011, 04:59:12 UTC

I think your responses to his comments were insightful! You weren't mean about it, you were very objective (especially the part about it not being a workshop). Way to be classy :D

latenite_snacks July 14 2011, 05:52:20 UTC

Thank you! Believe me, I had some very different comments written but I took a breath and tried to be reasonable in my actual responses. I just couldn't believe that guy was trying to workshop his published book!

emploding July 14 2011, 05:02:21 UTC

Authors that come to defend their work after less than perfect reviews are just silly. They end up looking "stoopid" (a published author actually expects to be taken seriously when he uses words like that?).

The book sounds like it was made of fail. If he can't accept reviews then maybe he should not have published a book!

It's a bit pointless to have to explain things to people. If someone reads your book they should not need to then read your essay of how you intended things to sound.

latenite_snacks July 14 2011, 05:55:28 UTC

Yeah, the 'stoopid' thing was, well, stupid and after finding a YouTube video of him, I'm pretty sure my initial assessment was correct. Meaning, he does appear to be a dude in his 40s trying to write as a dude in his 20s - who is living in 2011. It doesn't work. Unless I'm just super out of the loop and people do in fact say things like, "your pictures are the bomb," and call each other beeyatch all the time.

cloned_fiction July 19 2011, 08:04:43 UTC

I know a few guys in their early 20s who do say that (Beeyatch) a lot - and many similar phrases. All of which I find pretty out-of-touch and an attempt to sound cool and/or tough by someone with low self-esteem which doesn't work. So I'd beleive it happens, but I'd also believe if the author chose to use it then he was trying to paint the picture of an out-of-touch guy with low self-esteem trying badly to be cool and if he wasn't going for that effect then maybe he should try writing characters closer to his age and understanding.

latenite_snacks July 19 2011, 20:45:17 UTC

Yeah, totally, I am certainly not of the opinion that no one ever uses the word. If he'd had a single character saying 'beeyatch' all the time, or even a group of friends who frequently said it to each other, I would have assumed that he was just trying to get across that they were jackasses. But it was numerous characters who weren't friends with each other.

Thread 5

pastelzombie July 14 2011, 05:07:23 UTC

omg I can't believe he actually responded to your review and messaged you over it.

Makes me officially terrified of all the bad reviews I've left on goodreads. shit.

latenite_snacks July 14 2011, 05:56:51 UTC

Ugh, I was actually pretty convinced he was going to respond because there were a total of 2 reviews when I posted mine - and one of them was from him! But I did it anyway and really hoped he wouldn't be the type of dick that came around posturing.

I guess I didn't hope hard enough.

pastelzombie July 14 2011, 06:04:27 UTC

It's just so unprofessional that I'm baffled. It makes me not want to read any of his books ever, the opposite of what he should be up to.

But your review was very well done, and good for you for all your responses and putting up with him.

mongoose_bite July 14 2011, 05:39:08 UTC

I love watching published authors behaving badly. Well, as long as it's not an author I like; then it's just depressing.

latenite_snacks July 14 2011, 06:00:01 UTC

I love watching it too but unfortunately it's not quite as much fun when you're involved.

Though, I am thankful that the other people commenting seemed to be on my side. When I got the notification that someone else had responded, I immediately assumed that it would be people he'd sent to defend him. Thankfully that wasn't the case.

mongoose_bite July 14 2011, 06:03:21 UTC

Yes, I imagine it would be rather unnerving to be responded to by the author. You make some good points about why it's just generally a bad idea.

midnightisclose July 14 2011, 06:00:27 UTC

Whoa. I mean... I can understand why you wrote a negative review! Who names their protagonist after themselves, first of all? And then, it sounds utterly sexist and homophobic (I mean, faggot, REALLY?!). Geez! I'm also really surprised that he'd go as far as to private message you. Eek.

latenite_snacks July 14 2011, 06:01:32 UTC

The faggot thing was gross, as was implying that anyone who's kinky is automatically a victim of abuse or an abuser. All around, not good times.

perfectfigure July 14 2011, 13:22:46 UTC

Yeah, I think naming the character after himself, and referring to himeslf and the character as "JAG," was the first clue that this dude sucks.

However, I love author wank more than anything in the world... so yay. :D