I feel sorry for Anne Rice
Sep. 22nd, 2004 04:25 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
msagaraI don't know how many of you have seen the response she posted at amazon.com to reviews about her latest novel, Blood Canticle, but I'm assuming by this time many of you have -- because things like that tend to get around.
I read it with a kind of horrified fascination -- because, of course, it's the type of thing you think when you're very unhappy about a particularly nasty or incomprehensible review, which affects you say, when you're in the throes of PMS, etc.; the type of thing you might, in fact, grind out against a friend's shoulder in bitter frustration. Never the type of thing you post in public.
Otoh, she's always been a fairly public person, and she's not known for her lack of opinion about her work. How do I know this? Because I also visited her web site after I'd read her commentary. She's pretty clear about what she wants, and about how she views her own writing. And it's damn clear, reading her words there, that that lovely patina of detachment that writers are supposed to develop in public about their work and the comments or reactions it engenders? She hasn't. Ever.
Proof, of a sort, that you don't necessarily have to develop these calluses in order to be a million copy+ bestseller. Yes, that was a digression.
Do I agree with what she said? No. I don't think that people who didn't like it are clearly stupid or of lesser intellectual capacity. I think speculating on why the book didn't work -- that she was tramautized by the death of her husband and it affected her work, or that he must have been writing the other books because now he's dead and this one 'sucks' -- gives me some information about how seriously I should take the reviewer, and I understand why she might feel a sense of outrage at the implication that the words weren't hers. I think talking about the genius of one's own work is always teetering on the edge of wise (the wrong edge), but frankly, I've heard so many damn authors say the same things about their own work, either publicly or in chat rooms with a large number of people, that I guess it slides off the hard skin; it doesn't surprise me. It doesn't offend me.
What I find somewhat bewildering is the hostility that the counter engendered. She is clearly emotionally invested in her work to such a degree that she can't detach once the book has gone out of her hands; she's done something inadvisable and even publicly embarrassing (to herself), but I understand the source of the reaction because she's demonstrably not capable of not taking it personally; the work is what she has.
Do I advise anyone else to do this? Not on your damn life. And I would be eternally grateful to anyone who stopped me from doing something equally ill-advised; that's what spouses are for, poor sods.
The anger and scorn and derision and general cruelty that arose in response to her comments? I understand that less well. I don't understand that it comes from the same place; there's obviously no one with that same visceral attachment, that same inability to let go, because it's not their work. Yes, it's published. Yes, it's now open to public commentary, and yes people on Amazon have every right to post their opinions; I'm not arguing against that.
It's the reviews, if you will, of her response to the reviews that I find almost creepy. Or mob-like. Or something. It's like, "Okay, she's down and she's exposed a very stupid vulnerability, so let's all get together and kick her and giggle." I understand bonding exercises, and things that draw a group together in fun -- but this kind of fun is not my kind of fun. There's not a lot of malice in her words, that I can see; a lot of rage and obvious pain, but not a lot of malice; she's right there, in her words. She's completely exposed. There's a sh*tload of malice coming from other people, and it doesn't seem to come from a place of pain.
A better way to put this: She's not knowingly lying. She didn't knowingly turn out a bad book. She's not misinforming others to their detriment. Will the book make money for her? Yes, but not in a scam-artist way. I can understand a group assembling around any of these other things, because it seems to me to serve a purpose. Not entirely getting the purpose served here. (And Graydon, if you're reading this and you attempt to tell me this is some value of poor insecurity management, we'll have words <wry g>.)
My reaction to Rice's post is, as I said, a certain horrified fascination; it's like watching something implode. Or worse. But I'm wincing at it. If she came into my store tomorrow and screamed her head off, using more or less the same words? I'd grind my teeth and say nothing, and feel sorry for her because of the obvious cracks in the façade; but I'd be thinking, while I did it, there but for the grace of something-or-other go I. You build a lot of walls in this business, and it's like watching a car accident when they come down in this particular fashion.
I'm not immune to disaster scenes. I'm probably a lesser person because of this. I have to go and look. Why? Because obviously I'm stupid. And I have an edge. Just not that much of one.
I read it with a kind of horrified fascination -- because, of course, it's the type of thing you think when you're very unhappy about a particularly nasty or incomprehensible review, which affects you say, when you're in the throes of PMS, etc.; the type of thing you might, in fact, grind out against a friend's shoulder in bitter frustration. Never the type of thing you post in public.
Otoh, she's always been a fairly public person, and she's not known for her lack of opinion about her work. How do I know this? Because I also visited her web site after I'd read her commentary. She's pretty clear about what she wants, and about how she views her own writing. And it's damn clear, reading her words there, that that lovely patina of detachment that writers are supposed to develop in public about their work and the comments or reactions it engenders? She hasn't. Ever.
Proof, of a sort, that you don't necessarily have to develop these calluses in order to be a million copy+ bestseller. Yes, that was a digression.
Do I agree with what she said? No. I don't think that people who didn't like it are clearly stupid or of lesser intellectual capacity. I think speculating on why the book didn't work -- that she was tramautized by the death of her husband and it affected her work, or that he must have been writing the other books because now he's dead and this one 'sucks' -- gives me some information about how seriously I should take the reviewer, and I understand why she might feel a sense of outrage at the implication that the words weren't hers. I think talking about the genius of one's own work is always teetering on the edge of wise (the wrong edge), but frankly, I've heard so many damn authors say the same things about their own work, either publicly or in chat rooms with a large number of people, that I guess it slides off the hard skin; it doesn't surprise me. It doesn't offend me.
What I find somewhat bewildering is the hostility that the counter engendered. She is clearly emotionally invested in her work to such a degree that she can't detach once the book has gone out of her hands; she's done something inadvisable and even publicly embarrassing (to herself), but I understand the source of the reaction because she's demonstrably not capable of not taking it personally; the work is what she has.
Do I advise anyone else to do this? Not on your damn life. And I would be eternally grateful to anyone who stopped me from doing something equally ill-advised; that's what spouses are for, poor sods.
The anger and scorn and derision and general cruelty that arose in response to her comments? I understand that less well. I don't understand that it comes from the same place; there's obviously no one with that same visceral attachment, that same inability to let go, because it's not their work. Yes, it's published. Yes, it's now open to public commentary, and yes people on Amazon have every right to post their opinions; I'm not arguing against that.
It's the reviews, if you will, of her response to the reviews that I find almost creepy. Or mob-like. Or something. It's like, "Okay, she's down and she's exposed a very stupid vulnerability, so let's all get together and kick her and giggle." I understand bonding exercises, and things that draw a group together in fun -- but this kind of fun is not my kind of fun. There's not a lot of malice in her words, that I can see; a lot of rage and obvious pain, but not a lot of malice; she's right there, in her words. She's completely exposed. There's a sh*tload of malice coming from other people, and it doesn't seem to come from a place of pain.
A better way to put this: She's not knowingly lying. She didn't knowingly turn out a bad book. She's not misinforming others to their detriment. Will the book make money for her? Yes, but not in a scam-artist way. I can understand a group assembling around any of these other things, because it seems to me to serve a purpose. Not entirely getting the purpose served here. (And Graydon, if you're reading this and you attempt to tell me this is some value of poor insecurity management, we'll have words <wry g>.)
My reaction to Rice's post is, as I said, a certain horrified fascination; it's like watching something implode. Or worse. But I'm wincing at it. If she came into my store tomorrow and screamed her head off, using more or less the same words? I'd grind my teeth and say nothing, and feel sorry for her because of the obvious cracks in the façade; but I'd be thinking, while I did it, there but for the grace of something-or-other go I. You build a lot of walls in this business, and it's like watching a car accident when they come down in this particular fashion.
I'm not immune to disaster scenes. I'm probably a lesser person because of this. I have to go and look. Why? Because obviously I'm stupid. And I have an edge. Just not that much of one.
no subject
Date: 2004-09-22 06:14 am (UTC)This is by way of saying that (a) I've never read Anne Rice, (b) I don't ever intend to read Anne Rice, and therefore (c) I have absolutely no firsthand knowledge of the quality of her writing.
If her rampage on Amazon is any example, the quality of her writing is fairly substandard. Of course, that's a totally unfair example, as she's obviously coming from an emotional place, unedited, rather than crafting a structured argument. As you say, she's right there, totally exposed. But sometimes I find that's the most telling measure of a person, when their words are unedited, coming fresh from an emotional core.
We can't all be Dorothy Parker (thank god *g*). But even in anger, someone who truly crafts words as carefully and deliberately as Ms Rice claims to, should have made a better job of it.
Ultimately, her comments serve as the perfect example of why one should never post anything until the motivating emotion has cooled off. I think that warning should be emblazoned across the internet, at the top of every newsreader, web browser, IRC, IM, and email window: Never Post In Anger.
no subject
Date: 2004-09-22 06:36 am (UTC)I agree with this statement, but think that judging the whole of a person's literary ability on what they say in a single emotional state is a bit on the harsh side.
Ultimately, her comments serve as the perfect example of why one should never post anything until the motivating emotion has cooled off. I think that warning should be emblazoned across the internet, at the top of every newsreader, web browser, IRC, IM, and email window: Never Post In Anger.
Amen.
no subject
Date: 2004-09-22 06:47 am (UTC)Okay, that's true. (I'm still unimpressed with her, though. *g*)
no subject
Date: 2004-09-22 06:56 am (UTC)Everyone is less than impressed. I'm certainly not impressed. I just think the response would be one reserved for hypocrites or liars.
I think it was reading through the LJ community linked somewhere that kind of tipped me over the edge. I mean, how many different people need to say "STFU B*tch" in one place? It's too sharp a gathering of vitriol. I can understand if, oh, every single person on LJ says it once in their topic -- but a collosal thread half-composed of this or things that are as witty, clever and well-conceived is too much concentrated vitriol for me. As a form of rhetoric? I prefer hers. But I'm old <wry g>.
no subject
Date: 2004-09-22 09:29 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2004-09-22 09:46 am (UTC)I just checked. Yes, oddly enough -- it's not LJ? Okay, I'm embarrassed and obviously not very clueful on the hour-and-a-half sleep I did get last night (it's Terry Pratchett's fault. No, okay, it's my fault for picking up a book at night. Because when I do, this always happens).
'kay. And now that I know that, I feel oddly comforted.
no subject
Date: 2004-09-22 10:13 am (UTC)It looks like LJ because a lot of LJ's code is open-source and used by other journaling sites.
Nasty pile-ons are what f_w does, and as people I know have had very bad brushes with the people there, I have no high opinion of it.
(Is the Pratchett _Going Postal_? I thought it wasn't out until next week--maybe I should stop in at Borders on the way home . . . )
no subject
Date: 2004-09-22 04:28 pm (UTC)Thanks. So, now I know. I'm not against pile-ons per se -- but if there's going to be one, I'm old cranky usenet enough not to want to see AOL AOL AOL essentially all the way down; if you're going to add to a pile-on, add something to it. Wit, humour, new information. Err, perhaps my definition of humour is lacking here.
(Is the Pratchett _Going Postal_? I thought it wasn't out until next week--maybe I should stop in at Borders on the way home . . . )
It is Going Postal -- but it's F&SF reviewer booty. Unfortunately, it's the type of book that kind of makes you want to read more of that type of book, and really, there's only one author that does those, so I've been rereading all the Watch books again as well.
It's an October hardcover, which usually ships sometime in September, if that's helpful...
no subject
Date: 2004-09-22 04:55 pm (UTC)And _Going Postal_ is apparently next Tuesday not this one. I _suppose_ I can wait that long . . .
I stalled out on my Watch books re-read with _Jingo_ some time ago. I have it as an audio book, on the two-birds theory: see if the Discworld books work on audio, and get back into my re-read. I've been listening to other things, but I'll get to it eventually.
no subject
Date: 2004-09-22 05:57 pm (UTC)I stalled out on my Watch books re-read with _Jingo_ some time ago. I have it as an audio book, on the two-birds theory: see if the Discworld books work on audio, and get back into my re-read. I've been listening to other things, but I'll get to it even
GOING POSTAL is very, very much worth the wait. Why is it that anything worth waiting for makes waiting much harder? There should be some natural law against this.
I've reread the Watch books in their entirety (GG to NW) three times -- I like Vetinari and adore Vimes and the rest of the Watch <g>. I do this by going on a reading binge that starts with GG and just keeps on going while I get two hours of sleep in the wee hours of the night until I've finished.
I have a friend who is rereading the Rincewind books because he doesn't like them. Yes, this makes no sense <g>. He forgets that he's not fond of them and rereads them to remind himself from time to time.