Economist: Critics are getting less cruel. Alas
This is something that drives me up the wall with new books — the lack of professional reviews that are actually critical. Everyone loves a hilarious pan of a terrible book — the Jared Kushner one is an all-timer (“Reading this book reminded me of watching a cat lick a dog’s eye goo.”), but it’s rare to see a 6/10 of a notable new book anywhere.
It happens on Goodreads too obviously, between the 5 star reviews for books that aren’t out yet, and people that seem to be flattered to have been given an ARC of it.
At any rate, we need more ‘meh’ reviews.