Bad reviews

Nothing much going on in Brontëland today.

Jacket Copy - a Los Angeles Times blog - comments on a recent literary whodunnit online adventure that featured bad reviews on classic books on Amazon. However,

Although the strongly worded reviews took British academics aback, there are plenty of good books that are pilloried by Amazon reviewers. Salon collected several savage reviews of acknowledged masterpieces, including Anne Frank's "Diary of a Young Girl," George Orwell's "1984," "An American Tragedy" by Theodore Dreiser, "The Grapes of Wrath" by John Steinbeck and "Jane Eyre" by Charlotte Bronte. (Carolyn Kellogg)

Indeed, although the five-star reviews on Amazon far outweigh the rest of the reviews (56 of them giving the novel one star), not everyone likes or appreciates Jane Eyre. Which is not a bad thing per se, anyway. And the Brontës were used to bad reviews in their day too.

Behind the Books interviews writer Laurie Glenn Norris, author of Cumberland County Facts and Folklore, who turns out to be a Brontëite:

9. Who is your favourite author and why?
I have so many favourites. Perhaps the ultimate one is Charlotte Brontë. Jane Eyre is my favourite book. The woman was a genius. (Kathy-Diane Leveille)

The Northern Ohio News-Herald has a few teenagers preparing for Academic Decathlon nationals describe themselves. One of them, Corinne Whitaker, says,

First and foremost I am an avid reader who enjoys the likes of Dostoyevsky and Bronte. (Sandra M. Klepach)

Life Is Short. Read Fast reviews Wuthering Heights briefly and not very positively.

Categories: Brontëites, Jane Eyre