Friday, October 24, 2008

Retarded Reviewers

i'm not being writerly thin-skinned here guys, but do check out the 'review' below of my non-fiction book on parenting - ABCs of Parenting, Jaico Books.
i just dont get it - i mean how could i be advising the same advice on 40 different subjects? weird allegation. and the reviewer talks about cheaper books - Rs 175/- is expensive? do these reviewers read anything, or do they just go by whether they like you or not, or worse, is their nastiness and dismissiveness in direct proportion to their envy about anyone who gets published? sounds like that to me. dont get me wrong, i dont think my work is above and beyond reproach and critical review and all that, but when morons in a bad mood pass judgement on work that is well-recieved by real parents, real readers, real counsellees, real teachers, then you just wonder at this whole reviewing business.
Earlier I bitched and moaned about a positive review (see my blog So You want Press, huh? - under the label Hit and Run, 28 May 2008; http://gouridange.blogspot.com/2008/05/so-you-want-press-huh.html) of my novel, but written so badly, that it was hilariously stupid.
In short, stupidity abounds, both ends of the reviewing spectrum.
ps: do note below the use of the word 'wards' by this reviewer. i'm writing about flesh-and-blood parents and their children, not some legal entities!


http://www.telegraphindia.com/1081024/jsp/opinion/story_10006190.jsp
ABCs of Parenting (Jaico, Rs 175) by Gouri Dange offers a guideline for parents to manage their wards. The alphabetically arranged chapters take up issues that frequently cause furrows on parents' foreheads. The problem here is that 'A for apologies' has more or less the same advice to offer as 'Z for zombies' and the rest of the chapters. And it provides no additional insight from what other, cheaper, books on the subject do.

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