In his New York Times review of Matt Ruff’s Bad Monkeys — which is on my to-read list — Jonathan Ames makes an interesting point about book reviewing in general:
But I probably only had that thought knowing I was going to write a review and might have to produce clever, negative things to say.
Criticism, when done well, is an important tool and invaluable at opening up a dialogue about the books that we read. But it’s true that it can sometimes get hung up on things that the average reader, which is to say the reader not writing a book review, is perfectly content to let slide or completely miss.
And what’s with Ames’ “real quibble” — that the acknowledgments are too lengthy and come at the end, instead of the beginning, of the book? Geez. Seriously, if that’s the worst of it, the book is definitely moving up on my list.