I have a long essay written in my blood about nonsense like A.S. Byatt's review of OotP, but I haven't time for it now. I will say this: the damned funniest thing about her lot is that if the same material were published 300 years in the past and labelled "folk" instead of "pop culture," you can bet they'd have nothing but respect for it.
I just--no. I won't get started on it now. But I could.
Posted by Sarah T. at July 7, 2003 05:30 PM | TrackBackWhere can one find her review?
Posted by: Laura at July 8, 2003 03:31 AMon the New York Times website. You do have to register, but registration is free and they don't sell your info or anything.
It frustrated me mostly because it wasn't really a review. In fact, based on her article, I don't get hte impression that she'd really read the books. Skimmed them, sure, but that's it. I've read all five of the books, and I have *lots* of criticisms, based on the texts. What Byatt did was merely schoolyard snarking, instead of a legitimate critique of the texts. I would've been interested to get a real review from Byatt, but this wasn't it.
Ms Byatt, I'm sorry that Rowling sells better than you do and is better known than you. I'm sorry I never got around to reading 'Possession', in spite of its various awards. But read the damn books properly and bring real criticism to the table or don't write the review. Because it just looks like sour grapes.
Posted by: Raincitygirl at July 8, 2003 06:46 PMTo make it even easier, I think this link will work (with registration):
http://www.nytimes.com/2003/07/07/opinion/07BYAT.html
I _liked_ Byatt's _Possession_ and some of her other novels, but that definitely wasn't a review; that was a series of generalizations, most of which happen to be fairly incorrect, about adult readers of HP.
Posted by: Naomi at July 9, 2003 11:44 AM