Book Reviews

This is an exercise in the necessary evil of putting one's work out on the stage. And one must apply the very apt saying:

STICKS AND STONES CAN BREAK MY BONES BUT REVIEWS CAN ALSO HURT ME.

No. It's true.

They can hurt me. They do hurt me. They don't stop me. I just have to remember that a review is written by one person. And if I apply logic, some people must like Brussels Sprouts because if nobody did, then nobody would bother to grow them - or sell them - so it's basically a matter of personal taste.

And also, to be mean back, there is another saying:

THOSE THAT CAN DO, AND THOSE THAT CAN'T CRITICIZE.

So one wonders whether there's a little element of jealousy? A little bit of "Oh I can do that, but I'm too busy."

But perversely a bad review is probably better than a good review. How? Imagine that everyone always loved your work. It's what happens in every artistic industry. If it works don't fix it. And your publisher/movie mogul/gallery director etc., confines the artist to continue in the style that makes their work successful. Thus they are robbed of the artistic scope to further explore the potential of their work.

But it's nice to get a good review.