A Writer Ponders the Negative Reviews...

Every writer has felt the pain—indeed, the excruciating wound—of a bad review.

A bad review is not just a personal assault. It is potentially a professional liability. I mean, you've spent thousands of hours creating this product, and now someone can just flippantly crap on it in Amazon and the chances of it being purchased again have just officially diminished!


Bad Reviews in History

Now writers far better than I have received such treatment. Note, for instance, reviews of Walt Whitman's Leaves of Grass:

"A mass of stupid filth." Rufus Wilmot Griswold, The Criterion, November 10, 1855.

“It is no discredit to Walt Whitman that he wrote Leaves of Grass, only that he did not burn it afterwards.” Thomas Wentworth Higginson, The Atlantic, “Literature as an Art,” 1867.


Bad Reviews and Bad Reviewers

In this post I will examine some of the bad reviews my books have received. I will discuss which I thought were reasonable differences of opinion and which, in my opinion, are simply unfair.

Now, regarding the practice of reviewing, I personally follow the principle of "First, do no harm." I've bought and read plenty of things I didn't adore. But I know that long hours of work and craft went into a literary creation. As the Romans would say:

De Gustibus Non Disputandum est
"Concerning tastes, it must not be debated." (I.e., to each their own)

I would not file a negative review unless I sincerely believed that the work somehow represented a fraud on the reader—that it utterly failed to deliver what it promised or that it was truly unprofessional in its construction.

But there are others quicker to judge. There are also just some nasty haters out there, people who spit venom from behind anonymity on the internet. And they are allowed to sit in judgement on the creative products of others.

And so, here are the negative reviews I have gotten for my efforts.

 

Intermediate Arabic for Dummies

I wrote this book for Wiley Publishing. I worked as an Arabic linguist for the NSA for four years after 9/11. I did my best to cover the grammatical topics in the book. It has received good reviews, such as:

 

[Five Star Review] "This book is a tremendous resource for anyone attempting to tackle Arabic grammar. The table of contents is very clear and it is easy to reference anything you need help with. This isn't a book for beginners, but it is simple enough to educate without intimidation. If you need a quick reference resource, this is a quality book"

But this book, on which I spent thousands of hours of work, also received the following review:

[One Star Review] "This book did not turn out to be what I expected. The section on handwriting especially is useless.Arabic letters are written with parts above and below the line and it's impossible to figure that out from the information given because the letters are not written on lines. The rest of the sections are also very basic. I think this book would be best for travelers to the middle east. It is not of much use for students wishing to learn formal Arabic grammar." (firsttimemon)

I don't know what you expected, firsttimemom (whatever your name really is). There was no section on handwriting at all, because this is an INTERMEDIATE level book. Even so, all the Arabic included English transliteration. I systematically covered every aspect of Arabic grammar (as the other reviewer noted); I totally didn't write a book of use for "travelers to the middle east" (which I have been and I suspect you, firsttimemom, are not). 


A Place of Brightness

This is a novel I wrote about a Romanian family, members of a guerilla movement called the "Haiduci," who fought a generational war against tyranny--starting in the times of the Ottoman Empire, and down through the times of Communism and the modern day.

It has gotten very good reviews, such as:


[Five Star Review] "Such a wonderful book! I finished it in a day because I just couldn't put it down."
 
But it has also received the following negative review:

[Two Star Review] "The story of a family of Haiduci fighters against the communist regime, devolves into a trite spy thriller with little historical background or insight. The characters are wooden, the plot is not all that complicated to figure out, and the dialogue is stilted." (Susan S.)

In my opinion, this is an entirely reasonable negative review. While I did my best to craft characters who were alive for me (and I succeeded for others who reviewed), I clearly did not connect with Susan S.

I'm grateful that she gave me two stars and not one...

De Gustibus.


 In Saecula Saeculorum

This is my Time Travel/Espionage Adventure novel in which four young people are unwittingly prepared to undertake a dangerous mission in Ancient Rome on a mission to save the modern world.

It has gotten some great reviews, such as:


[Five Star Review] "In Saecula Saeculorum is an exciting adventure that has had me thinking back again and again on the journey. Now I'll admit that I'm crazy about time travel fiction, and this story satisfied my highest expectations. The character development is particularly strong, and the reader comes to feel very close to these characters. Ancient Rome comes to life in all its intrigue, glory, and grittiness. The dialogue is at times funny, at other times deeply emotional, a roller coaster of experience that makes you forget its fiction. For anyone who loves history, time travel, languages, or just a great story, read In Saecula Saeculorum!"

And it has gotten the following negative review:

[Two Star Review] "It felt like I was reading a Nancy Drew or Hardy Boys novel, featuring extremely capable teenagers who were very respectful of their elders - it was completely unrealistic. As I was reading, I kept thinking that had I stumbled upon a book for pre-teens... (If this *is* a pre-teen book, I'd say that it's for unsophisticated pre-teens.)" (ogecko)

Mirabile Dictu, in a novel about a trip back in time to save the modern world, the reviewer claims that my presentation of young people's respect for their elders is an "unrealistic" point.

Maybe, like me, the reviewer has taught high school for the last ten years and has the lived experience that young people are all simply horrible and a book in which they are presented as decent is "unrealistic."

I wrote the book from the perspective of a high school teacher who finds today's young people to be generally decent and respectful.

And so, ogecko (whatever your name really is), if you have encountered horrible youth in your abundant teaching experience, I am truly sorry and understand your review.

If, however, you have no authentic experience of today's youth, I don't care about your negative review of my book. I reject your negative review of them.

A Place of Brightness: Cans of Soup as Weapons...

I read with great interest (and horror) a story of how children were being taught to fight back against a school aggressor with anything they have around them, even a can of soup:

http://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/ala-middle-school-tells-kids-throw-cans-shooters-article-1.2075972

The plan is, of course, ludicrous. The chances of any given school being the target of violence, let alone the chance that any given student would be the "last line of defense" and needed to throw a can of soup at an aggressor, is so staggering low that efforts to thus educate are a horrible waste of time and energy.

That said, a can of vegetables is actually a weapon in my novel A Place of Brightness. Here's the passage. An Orthodox priest had been trained in his childhood to be a commando to fight the Communists in Romania. But today, he's stumbled into a grocery story robbery:

Father Stefan Valquist headed toward the checkout area. As he approached the store entrance, he noticed a sudden and strange silence in the normally bustling space.

“Hands up!” a voice bellowed.

Stefan’s eyes quickly struck upon a masked man sweeping a gun through the area.

“Open that thing up,” the man shouted at a teenage girl behind the cash register. “The rest of you take out your money and don’t try anything stupid.”

The half dozen shocked customers standing there responded slowly to the demand.

The man looked Stefan up and down while he stuffed money from the till into a bag. “What’s with the black robe?” he asked. “You think you’re some kind of ninja?”

“I’m an Orthodox priest,” Stefan said, holding his hands up at shoulder level. “This is what we wear.”

“I don’t care if you’re the Pope,” the man barked. “I’ll put a bullet through you all the same. Keep those hands where I can see them.”

An elderly woman nearby began to convulse in sobs.

“You got a problem, lady?” the man asked, slamming the drawer shut and walking quickly toward her.

“Please don’t …” she gasped, cringing from his approach.

Shooting a glance around his perimeter, Stefan spotted a display of canned vegetables within his grasp. Just outside his reach stood an assortment of brooms.

“You better shut up,” the man yelled. “Or you’ll be sorry real soon.”

“Leave me alone!” she cried.

“That’s enough,” the man barked, swinging his gun toward her.

Stefan’s hand snapped out to seize a can. An instant later, he had hurled the metal receptacle to smash into the man’s face. The thief staggered backward in shock.

The priest bounded forward, his hand grabbing one of the brooms. He dropped to one knee and swung the stick forward. The sound of a hollow crack rang throughout the store as the wood exploded aside the man’s head.

The astonished crowd watched as the thief collapsed silently. After a moment to register the unexpected event, they erupted into applause.

“You’re a hero!” a young woman exclaimed, throwing her arms around him.

“Someone please call the police,” Stefan said, gently extracting himself from the woman’s embrace. He walked to stand over the man. “How is he?”

“Who cares?” the woman asked.

“I can’t kill,” Stefan whispered.

An older man knelt beside the unconscious robber. “He’ll live,” he said, looking up curiously. “But what do you mean you can’t kill?”

“I just can’t,” he said, closing his eyes. “I’d lose my priesthood.”

Stefan leaned against a wall, as the store became a chaos of sounds and motion in the aftermath of the incident.

The elderly woman approached him. “Thank you, young man,” she said softly.

Stefan smiled faintly and nodded.

“Where did you learn those things?” she asked.

His eyes glistened. “My mother taught me.”

If you'd like to read the first two chapters of my novel A Place of Brightness, visit my website and read the first two chapters for free. Thank you for your consideration.

Fighting the Blues: A Blue Monday Antidote...

Click to purchase a print of Annie Lee's beautiful "Blue Monday"

Apparently it began as a marketing ploy, the assertion that the Monday of the last full week in January is the most depressing day of the year and, for that reason, you really ought to book a flight to some vacation getaway.

Well, January here in the Northeast has been cold, snowy, and generally depressing.

So, even if it's not scientifically and certifiably the most depressing day of the year, my novels include uplifting and thoughtful works sure to feed your soul. I'll take this opportunity to make a few shameless plugs!

Strange as it might seem, one of the best antidotes to the winter blahs is a good cry. Readers tell me that In Saecula Saeculorum leaves them reaching for the tissues constantly, though it's also full of just as many laughs, smiles, and cheers. It's a Young Adult, Time Travel, Adventure, Romance,  all rolled up in one.

If you're in the mood for a good old fashioned espionage thriller, Amor Vincit Omnia: an Andrew Valquist Adventure  tells the story of how Dr. Andrew Valquist starts work at the National Security Agency, only to be sent on a dangerous assignment on his second day with the Agency! 





 
A Place of Brightness recounts Dr. Andrew Valquist's history as the son of a Romanian Freedom Fighter. Andrew and his twin brother, Father Stefan, face intrigue, danger, and adventure as they journey back to their mother's homeland to solve the mystery of her past.

Enjoy, dear reader. Be well and God Bless on Blue Monday and every day.