tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5595702824833504762.post8252311529176307449..comments2024-03-27T10:21:58.236-07:00Comments on FURROWED MIDDLEBROW: Offputting reviewsFurrowed Middlebrowhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12065110409019861653noreply@blogger.comBlogger10125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5595702824833504762.post-59768387407350482912015-07-09T10:01:34.430-07:002015-07-09T10:01:34.430-07:00Victoria Sackville-West??Victoria Sackville-West??Lisa Perryhttp://www.booktruffler.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5595702824833504762.post-89780370074895130842015-06-25T07:05:13.677-07:002015-06-25T07:05:13.677-07:00You're in good company there, Mage. Or maybe I...You're in good company there, Mage. Or maybe I should say the competition is fierce?Furrowed Middlebrowhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12065110409019861653noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5595702824833504762.post-55390578056189497092015-06-25T07:04:27.191-07:002015-06-25T07:04:27.191-07:00Wow, that is certainly one of the most blatant exa...Wow, that is certainly one of the most blatant examples I've ever seen of a critic who hasn't bothered to do their job. Thank you for sharing it (not least because of the names the critic mentions, at least two or three are potential new additions to my list!). Furrowed Middlebrowhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12065110409019861653noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5595702824833504762.post-65639659933704115702015-06-25T07:02:20.113-07:002015-06-25T07:02:20.113-07:00I really sometimes wonder what purpose critics ser...I really sometimes wonder what purpose critics serve, Susan, apart from alerting awards committees to which books they should consider and which they can safely ignore. Certainly, one can hardly take reviews of middlebrow women writers with sufficient grains of salt!Furrowed Middlebrowhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12065110409019861653noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5595702824833504762.post-73988412255853360702015-06-25T07:00:39.088-07:002015-06-25T07:00:39.088-07:00I used to have a terrible paperback of Thirkell...I used to have a terrible paperback of Thirkell's Private Enterprise, which made it sound like a torrid romance, or perhaps like one of those melodramatic family sagas so popular in the 1970s and 1980s, which is presumably when the edition appeared. Ugh.Furrowed Middlebrowhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12065110409019861653noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5595702824833504762.post-74315269076590850012015-06-23T15:52:31.087-07:002015-06-23T15:52:31.087-07:00Nope, but I am always looking for DE Stevenson. :...Nope, but I am always looking for DE Stevenson. :)Magehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17333086721654817750noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5595702824833504762.post-5191541305487449512015-06-21T23:39:01.116-07:002015-06-21T23:39:01.116-07:00Hi Scott – many old reviews must have been cranked...Hi Scott – many old reviews must have been cranked out under deadline by harassed hacks who appear not to have read much more than the blurb on the book jacket before inditing. Below is one I stumbled upon last week about an early novel by Somerset Maugham's niece, Kate Mary Bruce (whose work I got interested in after reading her WWII-related Figures in Black-out) by a reviewer who seems not to have gone far beyond merely looking at authors' portraits in ad copy from a publisher.<br />- Grant Hurlock<br /><br />(review of The Chequer Board, by Kate Mary Bruce, from The Literary Review - July 1923):<br />William Heinemann sends us a brochure about his younger novelists, who are Victoria Sackville-West, Dennis Mackail, Dorothy Easton, Cecil Roberts, Leonora Eyles, Crosbie Gaestin, Agnes Muir McKenzie, Geoffrey Dennis, Marjorie Grant Cook, EV Odle, Kathleen Creighton Lion, and Kate Mary Bruce… Kate Mary Bruce is far and away the best looking. We find her face very attractive; so, as we don't know much about any of them, we will tell you about her.… She has written "The Chequer Board" and is publishing "Clipped Wings" in the fall.… Her first volume was a novel of theatrical life, telling of a beautiful actress who would sacrifice everything on the altar of a new sensation. Her new book concerns a girl who married the wrong man only to discover the right one too late.… Neither theme appeals to us as vastly original, but they say that Mrs. Bruce writes brightly, humorously, and easily, of Mayfair.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5595702824833504762.post-31258950703040160522015-06-21T11:17:25.860-07:002015-06-21T11:17:25.860-07:00Oh, I feel better now, Scott (and Jerri and al!) ...Oh, I feel better now, Scott (and Jerri and al!) SOmetimes I get newer novels based on the fabulous reviews, and have to stop - often wondering what is WRONG with ME that I cannot like them!<br />nOW, i might have to try finding ROY'S fashion advice for the new woman! Reminds me of a Bette David/.Olivia DeHaviland movie "In This OUr lIfe," where they played sisters named Roy and Stanley............................<br />I digress. As usual.<br />I blame you, Scott.<br />TomAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5595702824833504762.post-30753232264171379922015-06-21T06:56:09.118-07:002015-06-21T06:56:09.118-07:00Indeed. What Jerri said (as usual). :^)
I am a r...Indeed. What Jerri said (as usual). :^)<br /><br />I am a review-reading junkie, and follow a plethora of blogs for reading suggestions. As you mentioned, Scott, reading between the lines is helpful, and I look for not only what the reviewer thinks of the book, but also what I might think of it, based on the descriptions of events. <br /><br />Recently a much anticipated new book by an author I like came out, and the reviews have been solidly positive, and yet, I suspected from what I read that I wasn't going to like it. But I had to give it a shot. And I was right. After a few chapters, I returned itto the library.<br /><br />But often and often I find books to enjoy through blog reviews, and nearly as often I taste them and return them. Thank goodness for the Public Library.Susan Dhttp://www.susandaly.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5595702824833504762.post-28755332009717124312015-06-20T18:49:51.080-07:002015-06-20T18:49:51.080-07:00A fun post. Somehow I am reminded of the fictiona...A fun post. Somehow I am reminded of the fictional reviews for the fictional novel Disturber of the Peace to be found in Miss Buncle's Book by D. E. Stevenson, many of which missed represented the book completely. Also the blurbs on some paperback reissues of the works of Thirkell and Stevenson, particularly those by Pyramid and popular library. Some of those are so VERY bad that they are roll on the floor laughing funny if you know what the real book is like.<br /><br />JerriAnonymousnoreply@blogger.com