The role of the literary reviewer is to provide both positive and negative written feedback on the book in question. It entails subjectivity but I believe that the critic’s main aim is to vividly and accurately delve into the mind’s eye of the author with detailed descriptions of the text, the use of devices conveying rhythm of the language used and meaning, also how the book affects the reader emotionally and/or intellectually.
There is a saying that “everyone’s a critic”. When I read a book, it inevitably has an impact on me. The writers here have chosen works of literature that have engrossed them and left an indelible imprint on them.
The erudite reviewers are from varied backgrounds. Here are a few highlights from FORTY SEVEN BOOKS:-
Nineteen Eighty Four (1948) by George Orwell, review by Tanya Robb. “The political themes in the book are censorship, state controlled surveillance, suppression of dissenting opinion and the use of hate and fear mongering for political power…”
In Frankenstein (1818) by Mary Shelley, (1818) Jeff Allan describes it as, “a rich treatise on philosophy, science and man’s self-determination through rational thinking versus creativity…”
In Wuthering Heights (1847) by Emily Bronte, Lucinda Gardiner writes, – “Wuthering Heights is as wild and rambling as the moors it is set on. It is a novel about how love and arrogance transcend class and even life itself.”
In The Tummy Trilogy (1994) by Calvin Trillin, review by Shelley Gare, “Trillin (a food writer) reminds us of the huge joy of unpretentious eating whilst food snobs visit La Maison de la Casa eating frozen pre-prepared duck.”
In A Love Letter From A Stray Moon (2011) by Jay Griffiths, review by Fiona Condie, it “is a unique fictional, partly biographical, piece of work, written as though Frida Kahlo is telling her own story. The words shine with passion, torment and revolutionary cause…Griffiths has attempted to portray how Frida’s art was fired by her sadness, love and rebellion.”
You can read all about it in FRIENDS RECOMMENDS 47 BOOKS published by Hankford Christopher.