the complete review Quarterly
Volume V, Issue 4   --   November, 2004


The Year in Reviews
An overview of the most-discussed review-events of the year
(November 2003 - October 2004)

The New York Times Book Review
Amazon reviewers revealed
Foreign Affairs
Commission reviews from Kirkus
Books: My Life - Hatchet Jobs - Checkpoint
Nobel dismissal
Online registration requirements
Reviewing in general



The New York Times Book Review

       Among the most closely followed review-related sagas of 2004 was The New York Times Book Review succession, a story that gripped America's literary commentators (if, possibly, no one else). On 10 March The New York Times finally announced that Sam Tanenhaus would succeed Charles McGrath effective April 12, ending months of speculation and debate -- at least on that score. Speculation and debate on what would become of The New York Times Book Review continued, with Tanenhaus only slowly instituting changes -- and his every move commented upon and analysed.
       As of 31 October it is still too early to definitively assess the new-look NYTBR. Like his predecessor, Tanenhaus has shown little interest in giving fiction its due, with non-fiction titles getting much more attention and space. Tanenhaus has moved towards coverage of more 'popular' fiction titles -- and, to our great disappointment, shows practically no interest in coverage of literature (or non-fiction) originally written in foreign languages. On the plus side, the ridiculous baseball-centred issue (one of the topics McGrath had particular interest in, which he unfortunately foisted on readers of the NYTBR) appears to be history.
       Given that much of 2004 was overwhelmed by partisan politics in the US, and that many political titles -- about the jr. Bush administration's adventures abroad, the Republican and Democratic presidential candidates, and politics in general -- appeared, there's some hope that Tanenhaus will come to his senses and, after the election, move to coverage of what really counts. But we're not holding our breaths.
       Overall, the NYTBR continues to muddle along much as it has for at least a decade: Tanenhaus does some things better than McGrath, and some worse, but all in all it's still a fairly disappointing performance. But they have gotten a lot of attention in the past year.

       Stories of possible interest on the subject include:

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Amazon reviewers revealed

       In mid-February a computer glitch revealed for all to see the real people behind the generally anonymous customer-reviews at Amazon.com (or rather Amazon.ca, the Canadian site). Much fun was had by all as readers learned of authors trying to pump up their own books -- or destroy the competition

       Stories of possible interest on the subject include:

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Foreign Affairs

       The unlikely publication that saw one of the biggest book reviewing related controversies of the year was Foreign Affairs, where first Kenneth Maxwell resigned on 13 May, and then Jeremy Adelman gave up a few weeks later. A good overview of what happened can be found in 'Foreign Affairs' Loses a Longtime Editor and His Replacement in Row Over Editorial Independence by David Glenn (Chronicle of Higher Education, 25 June).

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Commission reviews from Kirkus

       They weren't the first organisation to offer to review absolutely any book in exchange for cash, but established magazine Kirkus still managed to shock the industry when they unveiled Kirkus Discoveries. Described (by them) as: "a paid review service that allows authors and publishers of overlooked titles to receive authoritative, careful assessment of their books, which can be used to regain attention" -- cost: $ 350.00 -- , it sounded like a fairly dubious proposition to most of the literary world. But there's a sucker (and an author) born every minute .....
       This got fairly widespread (and not very sympathetic) coverage: see, for example, Will authors get honest review for $350 ? by Ron Charles (Christian Science Monitor, 27 September). As to how successful the programme is, that's not yet clear. But who knows: maybe this is the review-model of the future .....

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Books: My Life - Hatchet Jobs - Checkpoint

       A number of books received noteworthy review attention in 2004, though there weren't any really good scandals.

       Former American president Bill Clinton's long-anticipated (and delayed) memoir, My Life finally appeared. As with the last two Harry Potter volumes, the most interesting thing about it was the speed with which reviewers got to and through it. Theoretically embargoed (a few copies nevertheless popped up early), reviewers rushed to get their reviews out as soon as possible; the public didn't seem to mind that it was unlikely many of the first reviewers had really read the book closely. Jack Shafer sums it up well at Slate (30 June), in The Clinton Book Blitz, as he wondered: Can you really review a 957-page book in 24 hours ?

       The Dale Peck saga continued, as his Hatchet Jobs appeared, leading to much discussion about reviewing and Peck's aggressive style and so on. Apparently, some people were interested in this.
       Stories of possible interest on the subject include:        Among the most-discussed books of the year -- before it ever appeared -- was Nicholson Baker's Checkpoint, in which a character (apparently) considers assassinating sitting president George jr. Bush. We chronicle the whole sordid story in Nicholson Baker's Checkpoint: The Reactions and Reviews, but in all those reactions one review stands out, The New Rebublic's literary editor Leon Wieseltier's in, yes, the new-look The New York Times Book Review. Much-commented on -- specifically as being more concerned with politics than the book -- it is probably the 'review of the year', the one that has been most-discussed, though generally not for it's literary evaluation of the book ostensibly under review.

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Nobel dismissal

       Not a book review, but one taking down of an author is worth a special mention. Elfriede Jelinek was named as the Nobel Prize laureate for Literature on 7 October. Despite the fact that little of her work -- notably Die Kinder der Toten ('The children of the dead') the book which she considers her most important and about which she says: "That is the text that I wanted to write. Everything else was a practice run in comparison" -- has been translated that didn't stop several commentators from calling her selection a horrible one.
       At the Weekly Standard Stephen Schwartz chimed in with Oops ... They Did It Again, while in The New Republic (1 November) Ruth Franklin had her say (available here at the registration-requiring site). Both are among the laziest and most outrageous literary assessments of the year: neither of them even mention Die Kinder der Toten (hey, it's just her most important work -- who wants to bother with that ?), nor is it clear that they have actually read more than a smattering of her work (or, in Schwartz's case, possibly any beyond a few excerpts). See also our commentary at the Literary Saloon.
       (Note that most (English-language) coverage of Jelinek was at least more careful, the least one could expect considering practically nobody seems to have been familiar with her work.)

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Online registration requirements

       Sadly, it must again be noted that more and more online doors are being slammed shut. A few new book review fora appeared, but far more -- especially from the established print-media -- at least set up incredibly annoying barriers, usually in the form of registration requirements.
       Among the biggest losses of the year: the Australian dailies The Age and the Sydney Morning Herald. Entirely lost: the Evening Standard, while registration requirements were also tightened or made permanent at The Spectator, The Washington Post, and The Atlantic Monthly -- all (once) excellent book-review-sources.
       May they, and all registration- and pay-per-view-requiring sites, rot in hell.

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Reviewing in general

       As usual, there were some general articles discussing book reviewing in 2004. Among the more entertaining and interesting:

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© 2004 the complete review Quarterly
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