![]() The communion between reviewer and his public is based upon the presumption of certain possible joys in reading, and all our discriminations should curve toward that end. Better to praise and share than blame and ban. ![]() Sure it's his and not yours? To these concrete five might be added a vaguer sixth, having to do with maintaining a chemical purity in the reaction between product and appraiser.Review the book, not the reputation. If the book is judged deficient, cite a successful example along the same lines, from the author's oeuvre or elsewhere. Go easy on plot summary, and do not give away the ending. Confirm your description of the book with quotation from the book, if only phrase-long, rather than proceeding by fuzzy precis. Give him enough direct quotation-at least one extended passage-of the book's prose so the review's reader can form his own impression, can get his own taste. Try to understand what the author wished to do, and do not blame him for not achieving what he did not attempt. Dennis Lehane, Entertainment WeeklyA Prayer for the Dying reads like the amazing, unrelenting love child of Shirley Jackson and Cormac McCarthy.
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