"It’s his 19th book… Here’s hoping it’s his last."

December 22, 2022 7:47 AM

The Most Scathing Book Reviews of 2022

100 Best Books of 2022 (Time)
39 Best Books of 2022 (Vanity Fair)
36 Best Books of 2022 (The New Yorker)
16 Best Books of 2022 (Vox)
10 Best Books of 2022 (NYT, Barnes & Noble, Vulture, WaPo)
10 Best Children's Books of 2022 (Smithsonian, School Library Journal)
402 2022 Books We Love (NPR)
Favorite Books of the Year (Oprah)
Best Books of 2022 (NYPL, CPL)
The Most Popular #BookTok Books (Books-a-Million)
The Ultimate Best Books of 2022 Meta-List (LitHub)
The List of Online 'Best of 2022' Book Lists (Largeheartedboy)

posted by box (32 comments total)

The scathing reviews weren’t as entertaining as I hoped, but it was good to see take-downs of Jared Kushner, Henry Kissinger, and Kellyanne Conway.
posted by TedW at 8:07 AM on December 22, 2022 [7 favorites]

Kellyanne Conway? Uh... I don't see that book review on the list. I see a thumbnail image of it in the header illustration, but the book itself is not listed amongst the scathing reviews. I wonder what happened there?
posted by caution live frogs at 8:11 AM on December 22, 2022

I could see the Conway review just fine, but if anyone is having problems, the original review is at Slate.
posted by TedW at 8:14 AM on December 22, 2022 [1 favorite]

Well, this has been a rollercoaster for my internal monologue.

Seeing only the first link: "Box, wtf, c'mon. Does the blue really need to see that? Do I? I don't think I need that extra pile of sarcasm in my day. Well, let's see what the first [sees Jared Kushner something something] Nope. No, I don't need that. Box, wtf. Christ, no."

Goes back to the blue to stare at the post, 0 comments, mouse hovers over the link. "Should I say that, though? I also don't want to be the person who opens a thread with that same pile of sarcasm. That's never good for the blue, it's never good for me... Well, let's see what the first [sees a bunch of 2022 best-of lists] Oh. Oh! Ok, this is... Oh, ok then. Sorry, Box, sorry."

So, yeah, apart from all the grinding gears it took to switch from that first link to the rest of the post, thanks, Box, this looks interesting.
posted by mhoye at 8:23 AM on December 22, 2022 [2 favorites]

Aw, I liked Happy-Go-Lucky
posted by Going To Maine at 8:24 AM on December 22, 2022 [1 favorite]

I liked the scathing reviews! I’m still laughing about “Goop noir”!

And I gotta go scan the children’s section for Farmhouse. That one has popped up on multiple best of lists and I’m fascinated.
posted by mochapickle at 8:52 AM on December 22, 2022

Glad to see they are mostly "punching up". It's not in the classic tradition of scathing reviews, but it is a more genteel, acceptable variation. (well, maybe it is, as those are the ones that survive) and now we are laughing at the reviewer and not the reviewed.
posted by chavenet at 8:56 AM on December 22, 2022 [1 favorite]

I liked Happy-Go-Lucky too, but I can see that critic’s point. Some of the essays in that book were grim.

I have not read anything else on that list. In most cases, just general disinterest. In the rest, outright loathing of the author, so I am comforted that I have not missed anything.
posted by theBigRedKittyPurrs at 9:19 AM on December 22, 2022

Thanks for this - it was fun. Here are my personal top ten books read in 2022 (most were not published in 2022 but some were).

Notes from the Burning Age - Claire North. North's versatility is incredible. Her books are dense but addictingly readable.
The 22 Murders of Madison May - Max Barry. Fun spec-fic murder mystery from the author of Jennifer Government and lots more.
The Man Who Died Twice - Richard Osman (sequel to Thursday Murder Club). If you haven't read these books, you're missing out. It's about four seniors in a retirement community who solve crimes together. Absolutely delightful. The third book just came out and its on my night stand.
A Prayer for the Crown-Shy - Becky Chambers (second Monk & Robot book). Kind, peaceful, contemplative, and short.
Cloud Cuckoo Land - Anthony Doerr. One of the best books I've read in a long while. Doerr manages to tie together narratives from 15th century Constantinople, 20th century America, and the far future, with reference to an ancient Greek story about a fool seeking a beautiful land in the clouds. Gorgeous.
The Plot - Jean Hanff Korelitz. Tense thriller about a writer and sometimes professor who steals a story from a dead student and publishes it as his own. I just learned they are turning this into a limited series with Mahershala Ali.

OK, I guess that's only 6. It was a busy year and I didn't get to read as much as I wanted to. What were your favorites this year?
posted by Ben Trismegistus at 9:24 AM on December 22, 2022 [2 favorites]

My published-in-2022 favorites have been:

The Thousand Eyes, by A. K. Larwood -- Larkwood continues to impress me with her ability to backspin a plot in a completely unexpected direction that still makes perfect sense.

Sea of Tranquility, by Emily St. John Mandel -- A moody, introspective book about living life in the shadow of pandemics -- or, more broadly, living in the shadow of death -- that features an extremely inept time traveller.

The Pharmacist, by Rachelle Atalla -- It's easy to root for a heroic protagonist. It's harder to sympathize with one who becomes horrific in order to survive in a horrific situation. Rachelle Atalla pulls off the difficult trick of keeping us on the main character's side as she trades away pieces of her conscience and soul bit by bit.

The Golden Enclaves, by Naomi Novik -- The best of the Scholomance books. The main character has matured, the thematic content is pointed, the humor is sharp, and the plot twists are the best kind.

Nona the Ninth, by Tamsyn Muir -- I'll admit it -- I spent far too much of this novel thinking, "Wow, this seems remarkably straightforward for a Locked Tomb book." Hahahahaha no. Everything I know is wrong, black is white, up is down, and short is long.

(My list of read-in-2022 favorites would be ... considerably longer.)
posted by kyrademon at 9:42 AM on December 22, 2022 [4 favorites]

"Reading this book reminded me of watching a cat lick a dog’s eye goo.."
(NYT on Kushner's book)

I am imagining a "both sides" blurb area where the publisher is required to print an excerpt like this from critical reviews. Imagine!

I will be harvesting this thread for recommendations. I'm afraid I thought The Plot was dreadful but I'm glad to hear the new Novik doesn't disappoint. I've been burned so many times by the latest thing I've started waiting at least six months to a year after things come out to see what people think after the hype dies down. End of year lists are absolutely my thing since the recency effect is largely gone.
posted by BlackLeotardFront at 10:08 AM on December 22, 2022

I’m glad to see McEwan and Dylan getting a lashing, as they’ve both been coasting on previous successes for a long time.

Here’s my trick - if you see an interesting book roundup, look for previous instalments of that roundup. The books will be cheaper, because modern publishing continually shoves books in front of its audience, screaming “this is important”, when it’s usually only important for their profit margin.
posted by The River Ivel at 10:18 AM on December 22, 2022 [3 favorites]

I rather enjoyed The Passenger and Stella Maris, Cormac McCarthy's latest wheeze. I also had fun with Peter Zeihan's "The End of the World is Just the Beginning" and adored Dorothy Baker's Cassandra at the Wedding.
posted by chavenet at 11:31 AM on December 22, 2022

That review of Happy-Go-Lucky is spot-on. I've never read a book and said, "Oof!" as many times as I did hearing Sedaris describe the agonies of all of his first-class travel, his nonchalance at his beach house being destroyed, and how he and his sister are regulars at Dolce & Gabbana.

I decided after reading it that I was done with him, and then my feelings were confirmed when I saw this.
posted by yellowcandy at 11:49 AM on December 22, 2022 [5 favorites]

Always up for both worst of and best of lists.

Best book I've read this year and on the all time great list is Orwell's Roses by Rebecca Solnit. It brilliantly sums up so much of what I think and feel. Currently reading The Grove by Ben Dark, a delightful series of meditations on plants and history. Among others, also read and would recommend What Strange Paradise by Omar El Akkad and especially Heavy by Kiese Laymon.
posted by blue shadows at 12:27 PM on December 22, 2022

I belong to a committee that judges outstanding children's science books each year, and here are our selections for 2022.
posted by acrasis at 12:55 PM on December 22, 2022 [5 favorites]

I admit that I have sort of a love-hate relationship with scathing reviews.

I love them because they serve a purpose: they steer us, as readers, away from buying a crappy book just because of the author (or, less often, publisher or editor's) reputation; secondly and perhaps more importantly, they let a bit of air out of those authors whose perception of their own skills have become a bit too overinflated, or whose reach has otherwise exceeded their grasp.

But I cringe a bit at them as well, because it's painful to see a novel—and here I'm really concentrating on the novels, ghostwritten drivel like the thing with Kushner's name on it doesn't count—torn down, when the act of creating even a poor one is beyond the ability of most of us, most of our lives. Unlike challenging Usain Bolt in the 200m relay, which most of us aren't remotely fit to do, in theory just about anybody could sit down and write a novel. It doesn't require much. (Ottessa Moshfegh is open about not even doing much in the way of historical research. She just does it.) That is, and always will be, pretty incredible, even in its more mediocre examples.

So I hope that the novel reviewers at least have in their hearts a desire to improve, if not the future work of that particular author (which would be nice), at least the medium as a whole.


On Kissinger: have we considered a Kissinger Deadpool (perhaps a "Kissinger Living Tontine" if we're feeling classy) as a MeFi fundraiser? Send in $10 and you get to pick a date and time, closest to the pin wins 50% of the pot, MeFi takes the rest? There's gotta be some US state where that's legal, right? Seems like the sort of thing they get up to in Rhode Island.
posted by Kadin2048 at 1:00 PM on December 22, 2022 [7 favorites]

I see Andrea Long Chu is still the person to call when you need a hatchet job. I’m not complaining, she’s good at it.
posted by atoxyl at 1:01 PM on December 22, 2022 [1 favorite]

All that that review of Happy-Go-Lucky did for me is remind me of why New Gawker isn't on my list of things to regularly check for updates. Describing Sedaris as "some kind of moneyed Aspergers case" is only one of its many sins.
posted by Halloween Jack at 1:34 PM on December 22, 2022

Who are the audience for a new Kissinger book in this day and age?

(by Kissinger, I mean.. I'm sure there are still unplumbed depths of appalling things to be written about Kissinger.)

Or is it just assumed that the Hoover Institution will place an order for 50,000 copies and give them away at conservative fundraising events to pump the sales numbers and bolster his claims of current relevancy?

That happens with a fair number of political books, if I understand correctly, but usually they are for putative authors who have some connection to present events or distinction of expertise in some area thqt is timely.

There are many forms of human behavior that puzzle me, so I guess I can't rule it out completely, but my mind simply can't encompass the idea that there are a significant number of people out there with the burning desire to know what Henry Kissinger thinks and money to make it a worthwhile effort for anyone involved in the publishing who is not Kissinger.
posted by Nerd of the North at 1:42 PM on December 22, 2022 [1 favorite]

That's quite a body slam at Cormac McCarthy.

And "Goop noir" is a lovely phrase.
posted by doctornemo at 2:32 PM on December 22, 2022 [2 favorites]

I have no canid in this altercation.
posted by y2karl at 3:03 PM on December 22, 2022 [2 favorites]

The cat licking the dog's eye goo is so fascinating. Why? Was that a popular video that day? Was that something that the author had personally seen? Or is this an almost-universal expression of disgust that somehow passed me by?
posted by kingdead at 5:53 PM on December 22, 2022

I read that Andrea Long Chu review of Ottessa Moshfegh’s Lapvona a few months ago and it took me from super interested in reading Moshfegh to deciding - no thanks - there are a million other books I can read instead. Very effective effort!
posted by latkes at 9:06 PM on December 22, 2022

On my Mac, the last three (?) reviews, of Kellyanne Conway, John Irving, and Peter Handke's books, appear on Safari, but not on Chrome. 🤔
posted by lukemeister at 9:18 PM on December 22, 2022

Describing Sedaris as "some kind of moneyed Aspergers case" is only one of its many sins.

Yeah, that was pretty gross. Overall, I kind of agree that Sedaris is a bit overdone and his personal style is less entertaining than it once was, but yikes at that particular turn of phrase.
posted by asnider at 7:56 AM on December 23, 2022 [2 favorites]

I hope this isn't too gauche but my book Incredible Doom is on the 39 Best Books of 2022 from Vanity Fair linked above and, uh, that's pretty mind-blowing. I think it's actually the only graphic novel on the whole list.

Here's my MeFi Projects post from when we first launched Incredible Doom as a web series / handmade mini-comic.

I think I smuggled at least a dozen weird Metafilter references into Volume 1, like Fred's little appearance in chapter 6.

Anyways, full circle and all that! Wild.
posted by churl at 2:51 PM on December 23, 2022 [10 favorites]

As of today, I can add "Ducks: Two Years in the Oil Sands" by Kate Beaton as one of my 2022-published faves. A masterpiece. Like Alison Bechdel's Fun Home, Beaton's turn to autobiography takes her work to a new level.
posted by kyrademon at 3:06 PM on December 23, 2022 [4 favorites]

Into my third read of The Third Person, so I suppose it’s definitely on my list.
posted by Going To Maine at 5:57 AM on December 24, 2022

I don't care for recent Sedaris. Good for him for enjoying success, but stories about airlines aren't going to be as interesting as stories about being gay in the South.

But last year, This American Life re-aired his essay about working as a department store Christmas elf. He was great when he had fire in him.
posted by riruro at 10:28 AM on December 25, 2022

Just finished Happy-Go-Lucky. Was not expecting to agree with any of that scathing review, but, uh ... wowsers. It would be *charitable* to call a couple of those essays tone-deaf.
posted by kyrademon at 7:05 PM on December 30, 2022

I think This American Life might re-air that essay every Christmas, like it's Susan Stamberg's mother-in-law's cranberry relish (the secret ingredient is horseradish).
posted by box at 6:53 AM on December 31, 2022 [1 favorite]