JAG = Just Awful & Gross

[latenite_snacks]

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 :

Comments

[latenite_snacks]

The thing about the myspace reference was that there were other indicators in the book that it was supposed to have taken place in 2010. In his comment he does talk about how he went back and forth about changing that and that he inevitably kept it "for the sonic quality of the passage."

I certainly get that books don't get published immediately but he must have made other edits before it was published because it was definitely supposed to take place in 2010 - which is why it was so confusing that the protagonist was supposedly using myspace.

I'm glad you mentioned that though because I do wish I'd made that clearer in my review. It certainly wouldn't be an out of place reference if the book took place a few years ago but was published this year.

[elialshadowpine]

Well... what might have happened is that the book was contracted a couple years ago (it's not uncommon for books to take 2 or more years from contract to publication), and they just did a find and replace on the year, and neglected to update the references. Would not be the first time I've seen something like that happen. -_-

[polarisdib]

Y'know, I think I want to write a book about an a reviewer who gets stalked by the author of a book she reviewed negatively. I think it'd be a very good thriller.

I just wonder what the reviewers would have to say about it....

--DiB

[latenite_snacks]

That manual would be awfully short. In fact, I think it would go something like: "Shut the fuck up."

I've seen plenty of authors comment on negative reviews of their work and I've never seen it turn out very well.

[ryl]

Wheaton's Law applies doubly to authors reading a review.

[kat_nic]

That's it in a nutshell.

Naming his protagonist after himself was an automatic fail, imo. Engaging the reviewer and talking down to her, under the guise of "opening a dialogue" or some other disingenuous b.s., was just the crap icing on the shit cake.

[ardeth30]

Am I getting this right? The author is basically telling you that you read his book the "wrong" way?
Funnily enough, Anne Rice said the same thing about one of her books-it had a lot of poor reviews and she said people were interrogating it from the wrong perspective. ;)

[lied_ohne_worte]

Re: JAG's blow-up after being stood up - This comes after pages and pages and pages of frantic downward spiral. He's not just being an "asshole," as you put it. He's cracking up. That passage indicates a serious psychic break. In the preceding chapters, he never talks or acts like that.

God, how I hate people "defending" offensive behaviour like that. If someone under stress suddenly uses sexist/racist/homophobic/otherwise offensive language, that doesn't come out of nothing, but rather suggests that they think like that often and generally manage to keep their mouth shut. There are plenty of people who manage to be under lots of stress or even have psychological breakdowns and still do not suddenly become offensive in that way.

[alienfish]

I suppose... I was in a serious relationship with a guy for four years, and he was a pretty decent fellow. I told him, however, that either we take the next step or I was ready to move on. This was because we'd graduated and our new jobs were taking us to different parts of the world. He ended up in Arizona. We made an agreement that if we still loved each other in a year, we'd get engaged. However, in Arizona he became increasingly unhappy, insecure, lonely, even paranoid and finally e-mailed that he wanted to just be friends. What could I say but "Okay." That actually led to him blowing up and accusing me of sleeping with other men. So I blocked his address and went on with life alone. However, when I went home to visit my parents, he showed up on Christmas morning (with the flu) to ask me to marry him

[mersipan]

You stayed very calm and collected in explaining your points...the author came across as very defensive and just plain...odd. That sort of reaction makes me not want to read the book. Better if he'd said nothing at all.