Good Books, Bad Reviews

It’s easy to think that classic novels have always been considered classics. But even the most famous novels got some bad reviews. Book Riot has compiled some quotes from bad reviews for great books. My favorite:

“On J.D. Salinger’s The Catcher in the Rye:

This Salinger, he’s a short story guy. And he knows how to write about kids. This book though, it’s too long. Gets kind of monotonous. And he should’ve cut out a lot about these jerks and all that crumby school. They depress me.”

Granted, I’m pretty sure you could round up a hundred tenth-graders and get the same opinion. But a review like this is a good reminder that not everyone has to love your book. Not everyone will love your book. Sometimes even important reviewers will hate your book. But that doesn’t necessarily make it a bad book or mean that it won’t connect with someone. Being a writer means having to deal with a lot of criticism and rejection, even when you’re talented and beloved. It’s not an easy life, but seeing quotes like this helps.

Click through for even more bad review inspiration!

4 thoughts on “Good Books, Bad Reviews

  1. CanaryTheFirst says:

    Mmm, is that from a legit book reviewer? It sounds more like something I’d read in a blog than in a journal.

    The link sends me to an error page–but now my curiosity is piqued, so I’ll be looking up Book Riot on google. Thanks for the tip on the site; it sounds fun!

    • anniecardi says:

      Thanks for noticing the broken link! It should be all right now. (Book Riot is definitely worth a look though; lots of fun literary posts.)
      The original post on Book Riot notes that the review quotes were taken from Books of the Century: A Hundred Years of Authors, Ideas and Literature from The New York Times Book Review. So they should all be from the NYTBR. But it does sound like more of a blog-review than something you’d expect to appear in print. At first I thought it might have been a joke.

  2. Cassie says:

    Haha, this is awesome. Thanks! PS. love that you call yourself “Annie Cardi: YA Writer, Redhead” because being a redhead is just as important as being a writer. At least in my family of redheaded women. : )

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