“The Hatchet Job of the Year Award is for the writer of the angriest, funniest, most trenchant book review of the past twelve months. It aims to raise the profile of professional critics and to promote honesty and wit in literary journalism. Hatchet Job of the Year is a crusade against dullness, deference and lazy thinking. It rewards critics who have the courage to overturn received opinion, and who do so with style. Most of all, it is a public celebration of that most underpaid and undervalued form of journalism: the book review.”
Click here to see the shortlist.
I was once asked about the most devastating review I ever received. My answer was that it had never been written because the only person who could write it was me.
But if somebody else did happen to come up with that devastating review, how would I react? I hate to say it, but I would respect that critic immensely and consider him or her my best reader ever. Because in the end a writer never succeeds in writing the great book he dreams of writing. And that´s what drives him on.
- Carsten Jensen, former literary critic and author of We, the Drowned.
(Source: thedailybeast.com)
This is a good read. And it comes at a good time. After reading the New Yorker article, head over to a post by Jean Hannah Edelstein pointing out a recent issue with The New York Times.
As much as writers loathe a harsh review and would rather have an Amazonian-majority prove a book’s worth, Edelstein adds, “There’s still plenty of space for experts, though — I think it’s important not to forget that.”
Expert reviewers.
