Meanest Reviews

[Leo62]

[quote=""cw gortner""]Thereviewon Franzen's Freedom is brilliantly composed. I cannot of course tell if the reviewer has a personal ax to grind but it reminds me once again of why I tend to shy away from the much-touted "modern literary novels"[/quote]

Interesting review. I think he does have an axe to grind: "Every new book we read in our brief and busy lives means that a classic is left unread."

Doesn't mean he isn't right though.

"...the author’s attempts at humor descend to the sort of puerility that Americans tolerate only when reading a so-called literary novel"

Ouch!

[boswellbaxter]

[quote=""Leo62""]Interesting review. I think he does have an axe to grind: "Every new book we read in our brief and busy lives means that a classic is left unread."

Doesn't mean he isn't right though.

"...the author’s attempts at humor descend to the sort of puerility that Americans tolerate only when reading a so-called literary novel"

Ouch![/quote]

If the excerpts are any indication of the novel as a whole, I'd say the reviewer is dead on target.