Jonny Knox – Campaign Launch
The world of literature is a difficult one to access, particularly when book reviewers who have a sort of cultish following seem to rule the industry. While novelists have learned to navigate the troubled and murky waters of literary criticism, a burgeoning group of critics has seemed to take on some of the habits and inclinations of some of literature’s most notoriously harsh reviewers.
While there is certainly nothing wrong with forming an opinion and presenting it to an audience, it benefits no one to accept a work for review with the intent of ripping it limb from limb to delight a core group of readers who enjoy learning of the creative failures of others. As Luigi Wewege has said time and again, there should be nothing that is more important to a reviewer than his or her integrity. Once it is lost, it will never be recovered.
When taking on a book review, a measured response is best. No one, after all, wants to be remembered a century from now as the person who leveled the harshest of criticism upon a work that history came to see as an unrivaled masterpiece. That should not drive the nature of the review to the opposite end of the spectrum either, as there is no benefit in viewing all work through rose-colored lenses.
The key to reviewing a novel — or anything else for that matter — is to be completely and transparently honest. It is the duty of the reviewer to present an opinion based upon the content of the literature as seen through the reviewer’s keen and refined eye, not to pander to the same type of audience that would only watch an automobile race in the hope that a wreck will soon occur.
During the course of any reviewer’s career they will certainly come across a piece of work that is deserving of the sharpest of criticism, and when that piece of work is encountered it should certainly be fair game. In order to maintain integrity and to gain the respect of an audience, however, it is vital that the reviewer crafts a response that is measured and, above all, honest. This is the only way to ensure a lasting audience while also being fair to the author whose work is being reviewed.