Dissent in itself can be exciting, can bring light into gray corners. — Francis Brown

On sharing negative opinions and how a podcast changed my perspective on literary criticism.

I learned two things from a podcast about book reviewing that radically deepened my understanding of literary criticism.

The discussion was between

Sara Hildreth

of FictionMatters and the host of The Stacks Podcast,

Traci Thomas

. They were discussing the state of book criticism and Traci was talking about when she lived in New York and religiously read theater critic Ben Brantley’s reviews to help form her decisions about whether or not to rush a performance. Over time, she learned his tastes and preferences and was able to translate what his opinions about any given show would mean for her own enjoyment of the same show. He was Traci’s primary source of information when it came to theater, so if he didn’t like something, she knew what that meant; she knew how to interpret it.

Photo I took from The New York Times Book Review: 125 Years of Literary History

When it comes to book criticism, however, there are so many reviewers. Infinity reviewers. Even in The New York Times Book Review — indisputably the arbiter of literary taste — there are so many different critics reviewing books that it’s hard to familiarize yourself with their preferences.

If a reviewer named Tanya, for example, says she likes a particular book, how are we readers to interpret it? Do we know what Tanya likes? Do we know that she loves propulsive narratives and has a strong distaste for novels rich in interiority? It’s hard to say unless she discusses what she dislikes about books, too.

But if Traci, who openly dislikes character-driven novels, gives a negative review about a literary fiction novel, I’ll interpret it as something I would like to read. Why? Because I’m learning Traci’s taste and I know we have some diverging preferences.

Moving beyond The Book Review, a book lover needs to simply open Instagram and they will be greeted with an onslaught of opinions about books. I am one such opinion-giver. With so many different people sharing their opinions on books, how is a reader to interpret one’s thoughts? And if that reviewer, like me, doesn’t often share negative reviews, how can that help readers inform their own reading decisions?

I bring this up not to dilute the importance of my own work, but to admit that in only sharing what I love about books, I now wonder if I’m doing my readers a disservice.

Traci dropped another bomb on me in that podcast episode. She said that talking shit about books is good for books.

Until listening to that episode, I’d approached my reviewing and analyses from the perspective of a writer. I know how hard it is to write a book. I don’t want to talk shit about books because I don’t want it to happen to my own books. The thing is, people will talk shit regardless. Even if I write only rave reviews about every book I read, once my books are out in the world, they will be up for anyone’s interpretation.

And that’s what culture is. That discourse is important.

Another important aspect of cultural criticism is that my work — my thoughts about and interpretations of books — is up for your criticism. And all of this contributes to the greater cultural narrative.

Photos I took from The New York Times Book Review: 125 Years of Literary History

Before I was a writer, I was a reader, and I owe it to my fellow readers to share my honest opinions about the books I read — not just the good things for fear of retribution.

I’m not committing to sharing the horrible thoughts I sometimes have about books, but I am sharing my change of opinion here. I think it’s important to acknowledge when we grow and learn and change our minds. So whereas I used to skip analyzing a book if I didn’t have anything good to say about it, now I think it would do my readers well to share some of my negative opinions. And if I feel bad about it, I just need to remind myself that talking shit about books is good for books. It fuels the literary criticism narrative.

I began writing my initial thoughts about this edition of my newsletter while at my in-law’s house for spring break. I hadn’t mentioned what I was working on, and one morning my mother-in-law plopped onto my lap The New York Times Book Review: 125 Years of Literary History¹, a 368-page scrapbook-like artifact chronicling how the paper’s literary coverage began (a seedling of an idea was first planted in 1851!) and how it has evolved into the literary hallmark it is today. The book is gorgeous; a coffee table gem about which I will dedicate a forthcoming newsletter. It was a serendipitous item to be lap-plopped because it fits so perfectly into this piece on literary criticism.

As I learned from this book, The Book Review evolved from a more synopsis-style telling of books to a very opinionated report of popular books. Francis Brown, who edited The New York Times Book Review for 22 years, said in his 1968 history of The Review, “As our culture becomes more and more unified, diversity is a quality to be cherished and cultivated, and how dull it would be, how stultifying, to find ourselves in agreement on politics, aesthetics or what you will — and most of all on books, which by their very being testify to the diversity of man.”

And an important part of that diversity is, of course, dissent. In that same history, Brown says, “Dissent in itself can be exciting, can bring light into gray corners.”

Literary criticism is a part of a greater cultural narrative, and in order for it to carry its weight in the conversation, we need to reveal all sides of the story. That’s what carries the conversation, and that is what readers owe one another. With that perspective in mind, I commit to sharing a more wholesome view of the books I read. Yes — even some of my negative thoughts.

What I’m reading: Death Valley by Melissa Broder, 1000 Words by

Jami Attenberg

and On Writing by Stephen King.

What are you reading? Loving? Please share! Thank you for reading.

Love,

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1. Edited by Tina Jordan with Noor Qasim