I've read very few books that wouldn't get torn apart in a critique group. *Zero History* would get savaged for awkward use of metaphor and flat tension.* Anything by Ted Chiang would get dismissed out of hand for 'too much telling'. *Catch-22* would be criticized for poor grammar/style and confusing plot. *Huckleberry Finn* for plodding narrative passages; Hemingway for lack of description; Fitzgerald, Flannery O'Connor and J. D. Salinger for lack of sympathetic characters.
Critique groups are a rarified environment rich with gases that are toxic with sustained consumption. I find it's important to get out and breath some non-critique-group air if I want to actually enjoy reading. -- *I don't find it this way, but based on what I've seen people say about other books in a similar style, I think a lot of people would. On Sun, Dec 19, 2010 at 10:37 AM, Gary Mitchell <[email protected]>wrote: > I am reading Hull 30 based on this list. It is plodding and heavy. It would > get beaten up in any book critique group that I have ever been in. Every > time I pick it up and start reading, I fall asleep. I have enjoyed Greg > Bear > much more in other things I've read. > > Gary > > -----Original Message----- > From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf > Of > delancey > Sent: Saturday, December 18, 2010 1:16 PM > To: R-SPEC: The Rochester Speculative Literature Association > Subject: Re: spec fic picks > > I read the Cronin. It was truly a mystery why it got an ocean of > publicity, stacks at Wegmans, etc. It was a laborious vampire novel > -- kind of two novels stuck together, actually. Fair, but not > original and really very slow. He's a "literary" writer who switched > to vampires, and I think the publisher thought they could sell him as > the Cormac McCarthy of vampires. It worked for McCarthy, even though > he's a crap writer, so I guess that was a good idea on their part. > Cronin has presold the movie rights, is promising a long series, etc., > so we may hear more about him. > > But, really, the Cronin book is positively minor league compared to > THE WINDUP GIRL. Or ZERO HISTORY. > > cd > > On Dec 14, 11:29 pm, Alicia Henn <[email protected]> wrote: > > http://www.npr.org/2010/12/13/131905654/otherworldly----the-year-s-mo... > > > > Here's one critic's picks for the best spec fic of 2010. Has anyone > > read any of these? Any opinions? > > > > Alicia > > -- > You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups > "R-SPEC: The Rochester Speculative Literature Association" group. > To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. > To unsubscribe from this group, send email to > [email protected]<r-spec%[email protected]> > . > For more options, visit this group at > http://groups.google.com/group/r-spec?hl=en. > > -- > You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups > "R-SPEC: The Rochester Speculative Literature Association" group. > To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. > To unsubscribe from this group, send email to > [email protected]<r-spec%[email protected]> > . > For more options, visit this group at > http://groups.google.com/group/r-spec?hl=en. > > -- -- eric scoles | [email protected] -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "R-SPEC: The Rochester Speculative Literature Association" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected]. For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/r-spec?hl=en.
