{"id":40077,"date":"2013-12-15T11:55:58","date_gmt":"2013-12-15T18:55:58","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2013\/12\/15\/being-smarmy-vs-being-snarky.html"},"modified":"2013-12-16T06:40:25","modified_gmt":"2013-12-16T13:40:25","slug":"being-smarmy-vs-being-snarky","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2013\/12\/15\/being-smarmy-vs-being-snarky.html","title":{"rendered":"Being Smarmy vs Being Snarky"},"content":{"rendered":"
I'm sure there is a whole intellectual school of review and what reviewing means and the meta-meanings of review that will sniff at what I'm about to say as woefully naive.<\/p>\n

But it seems the debate between being Nice and being Mean in reviews are both founded on a false premise: that it is necessary to establish a tone prior to acting, or, rather, that a review is not a reaction to a creative work, but an essay itself with a purpose.<\/p>\n

That purpose may be to (on the nice side) make consumers of the review feel good about doing so, or to get the creator to pull-quote the reviewer on the cover (or, even better, ask them for an introduction to the next installment). Or the purpose may be to (on the nasty side) pursue a particular aesthetic ideological argument regardless of the work in question (X is per se rubbish, therefore if this work is actually enjoyable, it is X and so must be called rubbish), or to come across as snooty and superior (perhaps in pursuit of a book deal).<\/p>\n

What I want from a reviewer is honesty<\/i> and perspective<\/i> and humility.<\/i> \u00a0<\/p>\n

The honesty part comes in describing how they enjoyed\u00a0the book (or not), what they liked, disliked, found memorable, found forgettable.<\/p>\n

The perspective part is perhaps some placement of the book within intellectual or literary traditions, in the context of the author's other works, and so forth. \u00a0Here's where some of the meta-commentary comes in, but it is (or should be) divorced from the first part. \u00a0You can like a book (or even parts of it) and still find the overall message or tradition or form to be problematic. \u00a0You can find an author's corpus to be, net-net, triffic, but still disagree with aspects of a particular work.<\/p>\n

The humility part is perhaps the hardest, because a reviewer is, per se, espousing their opinions (perhaps with a smattering of facts to go alongside). \u00a0But the reviewer has to realize they aren't really-truly speaking ex cathedra<\/i> on matters of aesthetics. \u00a0"I didn't like this book" does not equal "This was a horrible book". \u00a0"I liked this book" does not equal "This is an instant literary classic." It's hard to include a few overarching comments, but accept that not everyone is going to share your opinion, vs. feeling (or, worse, asserting) that anyone who doesn't is a dolt.<\/p>\n

But, ultimately, it comes back to the first item. \u00a0Be honest. If you're writing an review for some other reason than to share your thoughts and opinions and even perspective on a given work, you're a hack. \u00a0If you're doing it to cultivate your public image, or to seek future work, or to advance some cause, you're doing a disservice to the consumers of your review. \u00a0It's fine to have a voice, to have a perspective, to have an opinion. It's not fine to trash a book (or laud a book) (or movie, TV show, game, piece of art, etc.) for the sake of doing so.<\/p>\n

Reshared post from +Angela Craft<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

"An intellectual has a solemn obligation to speak out negatively against ideas or books that he or she believes will have a pernicious or misleading effect upon people\u2019s understanding of important things. To do otherwise would be cowardly and irresponsible." – Leon Wieseltier, literary editor of The New Republic\ufeff<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n

\n

\n \n <\/div>\n

Bigger Than Bambi<\/a>
\n Be nice or else: In an era when literary feuds lack grandeur, writers argue about affability.\n <\/p>\n

View this post on Google+<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I'm sure there is a whole intellectual school of review and what reviewing means and the meta-meanings of review that will sniff at what I'm about to say as woefully naive. But it seems the debate between being Nice and being Mean in reviews are both founded on a false premise: that it is necessary … Continue reading “Being Smarmy vs Being Snarky”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"","_seopress_titles_title":"","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[106,3,36],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-40077","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-plusposts","category-blogging","category-media-books"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":49409,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2015\/01\/28\/book-review-lock-in-by-john-scalzi-2014.html","url_meta":{"origin":40077,"position":0},"title":"Book Review: "Lock In" by John Scalzi (2014)","author":"***Dave","date":"Wed 28-Jan-15 10:54pm","format":false,"excerpt":"Solid speculative SF, witty banter, and a nice futuristic police procedural. I enjoyed. \u25cf\u25cf\u25cf\u25cf\u25cb a review of Lock In There's a ton of very nice world-building in this SF police (well, FBI) procedural, and part of what makes it so nice is how subtle it all is -- the info-dumps\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "~PlusPosts"","block_context":{"text":"~PlusPosts","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/blogging\/plusposts"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":133785,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2017\/07\/03\/movie-review-fantastic-beasts-and-where-to-find-them-2016.html","url_meta":{"origin":40077,"position":1},"title":"Movie Review: "Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them" (2016)","author":"***Dave","date":"Mon 3-Jul-17 7:39am","format":false,"excerpt":"Not a spectacular film, but satisfying, especially if you just focus on the core quartet of characters, and don't get distracted by all the other plot fragments.(The design work and worldbuilding is pretty nice, too.)\u2605\u2605\u2605\u2606\u2606 (and a \u2665)Full review: https:\/\/letterboxd.com\/three_star_dave\/film\/fantastic-beasts-and-where-to-find-them\/ \u00a0 View on Google+","rel":"","context":"In "~PlusPosts"","block_context":{"text":"~PlusPosts","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/blogging\/plusposts"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/07\/Fantastic%2BBeasts%2Bposter.PNGimgmax%3D660.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":29902,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2012\/08\/19\/restaurant-review-black-cat-boulder-co.html","url_meta":{"origin":40077,"position":2},"title":"Restaurant Review: "Black Cat" (Boulder, CO)","author":"***Dave","date":"Sun 19-Aug-12 8:59am","format":false,"excerpt":"Went to the Black Cat last night with Mary and Stan, a very, very nice restaurant off of Pearl Street in Boulder. \u00a0We did the Chef's Sampler with Wine Pairings, so we got a bit of everything. \u00a0The ingredients were fresh and flavorful, the combinations were unique but thoughtful, and\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "~PlusPosts"","block_context":{"text":"~PlusPosts","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/blogging\/plusposts"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":129230,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2015\/12\/20\/a-short-non-spoiler-review-of-star-wars-the-force-awakens.html","url_meta":{"origin":40077,"position":3},"title":"A short, non-spoiler review of "Star Wars: The Force Awakens"","author":"***Dave","date":"Sun 20-Dec-15 1:26am","format":false,"excerpt":"A worthy successor, with modern sensibilities and technology and technique, to the original trilogy. Not perfect, but quite satisfying, and a lot of fun. My hat's off to you, Mr Abrams.(We ended up, perforce, seeing it in 3D, which was done well -- not essential, but a nice add.)More to\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "~PlusPosts"","block_context":{"text":"~PlusPosts","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/blogging\/plusposts"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/12\/image25-1050x7005B15D.jpgimgmax%3D660.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/12\/image25-1050x7005B15D.jpgimgmax%3D660.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/12\/image25-1050x7005B15D.jpgimgmax%3D660.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":133088,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2017\/03\/17\/movie-review-beauty-and-the-beast-2017.html","url_meta":{"origin":40077,"position":4},"title":"Movie Review: "Beauty and the Beast" (2017)","author":"***Dave","date":"Fri 17-Mar-17 10:55pm","format":false,"excerpt":"Probably my favorite Disney animated of all time, so this was a huge challenge. 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At times it courts over-complexity (and occasionally marries it), but also fleshes out the tale in some\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "~PlusPosts"","block_context":{"text":"~PlusPosts","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/blogging\/plusposts"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/03\/Beauty-and-the-Beast-new-poster-2017.jpgimgmax%3D660.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/03\/Beauty-and-the-Beast-new-poster-2017.jpgimgmax%3D660.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/03\/Beauty-and-the-Beast-new-poster-2017.jpgimgmax%3D660.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":129184,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2015\/12\/19\/movie-review-revenge-of-the-sith-2005.html","url_meta":{"origin":40077,"position":5},"title":""Movie Review: "Revenge of the Sith" (2005)","author":"***Dave","date":"Sat 19-Dec-15 8:14pm","format":false,"excerpt":"I'm not sure even another decade will make it worth rewatching this again. There are a few nice bits, but, like chocolate chips sprinkled in a past-its-expiry-date casserole from the bowels of the fridge, it's too little against the wobbly plot, crappy dialog, and bad acting by (and\/or direction of)\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "~PlusPosts"","block_context":{"text":"~PlusPosts","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/blogging\/plusposts"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/12\/EPIII_RotS_poster5B15D.pngimgmax%3D660.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/40077","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=40077"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/40077\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":40091,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/40077\/revisions\/40091"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=40077"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=40077"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=40077"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}