Book Review Rant
** Begin RANT *** While researching additional reading material for this blog I ran across the GoodReads review site (through Google Books) for Soft Apocalypse and must warn you that there are an unusual number of one star reviews there. I feel it my obligation to also warn you that I believe that the majority of those reviews are from people who either have obviously never read this book or are reading too much into it.
For example I quote (spelling retained): “The bad people are rich. They consume resources and laugh at those who are less fortunate. They are bigots and, for the most part, they are white. The corrupt and evil goverment officials are white. The military veterans who run rampant and rape and murder are mostly white. Do I have to go on?”
I don’t believe this individual read the same book as I. (Amend that, I don’t think this person actually read the book at all.) There was absolutely none of this in Soft Apocaplypse. There was not a single mention that Corporate America was predominantly white or bigots, or laughed at those less fortunate and not white. Only a character or two are identified by race. And, there are absolutely no military veterans running rampant and raping people. I really don’t know what to make of this review at all and I’m still scratching my head over it.
Here’s another example: “It's amazing how a book about the apocalypse can be so much about sex. I suppose if you like this kind of emotionally false male-fantasy stuff it'll be enjoyable--it was mostly well written and I liked the worldbuilding, but the narrator was absolutely unrelatable.”
There was, in fact, very little sex in Soft Apocalypse – allusions, yes, but no real sex scenes. While, the main character was, in my opinion, a bit sexually heightened I also think the portrayal fitting. In reality the narrator was simply looking for love and as a 25 year old guy obviously thoughts about sex are going to be inevitable from time to time (which isn’t that unusual as far as I and millions of other male fantasists are concerned). I personally fail to see the emotional falsehood mentioned in the quote. I read it that a young, lonely guy was ultimately looking for someone to share his life with. Sex, though some would have you believe otherwise, is a part of that.
My recommendation? Take the GoodReads reviews of this book with a grain of salt (or not at all.)
*** End RANT ***
For example I quote (spelling retained): “The bad people are rich. They consume resources and laugh at those who are less fortunate. They are bigots and, for the most part, they are white. The corrupt and evil goverment officials are white. The military veterans who run rampant and rape and murder are mostly white. Do I have to go on?”
I don’t believe this individual read the same book as I. (Amend that, I don’t think this person actually read the book at all.) There was absolutely none of this in Soft Apocaplypse. There was not a single mention that Corporate America was predominantly white or bigots, or laughed at those less fortunate and not white. Only a character or two are identified by race. And, there are absolutely no military veterans running rampant and raping people. I really don’t know what to make of this review at all and I’m still scratching my head over it.
Here’s another example: “It's amazing how a book about the apocalypse can be so much about sex. I suppose if you like this kind of emotionally false male-fantasy stuff it'll be enjoyable--it was mostly well written and I liked the worldbuilding, but the narrator was absolutely unrelatable.”
There was, in fact, very little sex in Soft Apocalypse – allusions, yes, but no real sex scenes. While, the main character was, in my opinion, a bit sexually heightened I also think the portrayal fitting. In reality the narrator was simply looking for love and as a 25 year old guy obviously thoughts about sex are going to be inevitable from time to time (which isn’t that unusual as far as I and millions of other male fantasists are concerned). I personally fail to see the emotional falsehood mentioned in the quote. I read it that a young, lonely guy was ultimately looking for someone to share his life with. Sex, though some would have you believe otherwise, is a part of that.
My recommendation? Take the GoodReads reviews of this book with a grain of salt (or not at all.)
*** End RANT ***
posted by The Alternative One at 4:44 PM
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