KIRKUS REVIEWS and their attitude towards modern literature
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Kirkus Reviews did not like Shadow's Bliss. The reviewer, Eric, thought
the acting classes, that most of the reading group loved, were gimmicky.
He believes the mob storyline was far fetched and that the acting dreams
and real life storylines were superficial.
Now, although I do agree with these points to a degree they must realise
that gimmicks are rife in a lot of books now. They sell books. They
make books.
* The mob storyline is not far fetched. If so virtually every Hollywood
movie with mob involvement would be.
* The whole novel is superficial! Not just the subplots or opinions of the
central character, who was written to be exactly that.
If Shadow's Bliss had been read by a young, fresh member of the Kirkus
staff I am sure they would have loved it. However, I picture Eric as a
failed writer with stagnant incomplete works sitting in a dusty attic
somewhere in New England. He is bitter that his goal of literary stardom
was failed and is left impotent.
I am not alone in this thinking either. I have read a lot of reviews of
Kirkus themselves and have found that first person fast paced, low brow
and light weight airport reads (as I like to call them) are poorly received.
God only knows what they would thought about Invisible Monsters by
Chuck, and anything by Christopher Moore and Arthur Nersesian as
superficial, far fetched and gimmicky describe them to a tea.
So a single center digit salute to Kirkus and stale old Eric and a word or
warning for fellow aspiring writers and colleagues... Don't let the
bastards get you down!
kind regards
Darren