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Lone Star Statements

by Jon Brooks
Fri, August 31, 2007, 3:00 am PDT

Everyone's a critic. Take the people behind these Amazon.com reader reviews. Exhibiting stringent standards and innovative literary theories, they slap down such legendary books as "The Great Gatsby," "1984," and "To Kill a Mockingbird" with just one star each. Ouch. Toni Morrison's Pulitzer Prize-winning classic "Beloved" is dismissed with this trenchant commentary: "People do things with farm animals they shouldn't." Regarding Joseph Heller's "Catch-22," "...a lot of people were smoking a lot of weed...to think this thing is worth reading." Cult favorite "Catcher in the Rye" is taken out with "J.D. Salinger went into hiding because he was embarrassed." "Lord of the Flies"? "I am obsessed with 'Survivor,' so I thought it would be fun. WRONG!!!" Someone even had the audacity to low-ball the usually sacrosanct "The Lord of the Rings": "The book is not readable because of the overuse of adverbs." Indeed.

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Filed under: Literature, Books

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comments

Posted by mhyattaustin | Fri, August 31, 2007, 7:42 am PDT

I believe these critics should learn to READ before they're allowed to use a computer. Those books aren't great because some English Prof said they were, they're great because they show the character of the protagonist as they work their way through life. They'll be around when these so called critics are dust.
MRH Austin, TX

Posted by mabon52 | Sat, September 01, 2007, 3:48 pm PDT

Critics are people who can only write one sentance. Alas.

Posted by islandbarb52 | Mon, September 03, 2007, 2:16 am PDT

I don't think that any of the cridics read any of the books all the way through. And I agree with mhyattaustin. They need to learn to read every word and understand what they are reading.

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