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a book I wasn't planning to buy
The History of Love has got a good amount of press, and so I stopped by to look at it on Amazon, where I do most of my browsing. I try not to read the customer reviews on Amazon, because I seldom find them useful. And still I got sucked into the reader reviews on this novel, and I ran into one that ends like this:
Let's be honest. The Serena and the Venus of the celebrity-literary world have arrived on the court; they're mighty talents. Score. Genuine show stoppers. Score. Genuine show offs. They write with a public in mind. And yes, they write terrifically well. THE HISTORY OF LOVE is really good, literally spell-binding, literally charming, inspiring; it's just not great, morally significant literature. I think maybe you can write better! Try showing off for once! Just imagine what YOU could achieve if you tried to write on the subject of love! Go for it!This is the ending of what must be the nastiest, snidest reader review I have ever run across on Amazon. It is the writer's first Amazon review, which makes me wonder if there's some kind of personal vendetta against this author or novel. It certainly reads that way.
The author is (according to the reviewer) destined to be loved by the literati. The novel doesn't meet the reviewer's standards for morally significant literature. That's good enough for me: I am going out to buy A History of Love, today.
April 28, 2005 07:11 AM
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Comments
For what it's worth, History's author is married to Jonathan Safran Foer, so I'm guessing there's some sort of jealousy or backlash. Apparently their (Foer and Krauss) books are very similar thematically. My copy of History just arrived -- I thought I'd try to read them back-to-back. Of course, at the rate I'm going, that will happen months from now.
Posted by: booksquare at April 28, 2005 08:52 AM
'...literally spell-binding'...
Now there's one to ponder.
Posted by: Shane at April 28, 2005 09:50 AM
booksquare -- I made a conscious effort not to mention the husband's name. I figure it's got to be irritating for her at this point. Also, I've never read his stuff, and I want to read hers in isolation. But it will be interesting to compare notes with others who are doing what you're doing, reading them back to back.
Shane -- I get the sense the reviewer was trying way too hard to be clever, and tripped over his/her own feet.
Posted by: sara at April 28, 2005 10:41 AM