TAOF is now in paperback, so I guess it’s time for another round of fawning articles. (I found it interesting when I saw it at my local Barnes and Noble: there was a “sticker” on the cover that declared:
A New York Times Book review
BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR
It has obviously been designed in such a manner that the eye ignores the “A” qualifier and basically just sees “New York Times” and “BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR,” which, I submit, is misleading.
So now we’ll get to read puff pieces like this one from the McClatchy Newspaper syndicate.
Sometimes I think I’m looking at all this the wrong way. It’s not much praising the literary qualities of the book itself as marveling at the fact that Harbach has done so well, pulling down a huge advance, which automatically provides buzz for the at-the-time unpublished book. A real success story.
But then I go back and re-read how many reviews purr over TAOF.
But then this major piece from the very literary Atlantic Magazine comes along, and I feel somewhat justified.
Thank you, B.R. Myers.
On the other hand, this piece, which I found on the Daily Kos site — and which I think is not very well written — chastises Myers’ critique as a “what can only be described as a hit piece.” I offer it here merely for the sake of offer two sides of the argument. Having done that, I stand firmly in Myers’ corner.
is available on Amazon.com,
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For what it’s worth Ron. I found Taof a true yawner. I put it down and returned to my stephen king
Rob fitts
Hater. JK. I’ve seen at least a handful of “what’s all the fuss about, this isn’t so great” articles. I disagree. I loved it, as you know. My problem with the Atlantic piece was it was so condescending and basically said anyone who liked it was too stupid to know it wasn’t any good. This kind of pompous, down-the-nose view is why I hated English majors in college. Fine if someone doesn’t like it, but don’t insult those who do. People have different tastes, and there’s nothing wrong with that.
That’s why there’s vanilla AND chocolate. Funny, but I see a lot of the positive reviews doing the same thing in the other direction: that if you don’t agree that it’s a great book, then your education is lacking and there’s something wrong with you.
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