"List of the Lost" review by Ed Cumming in The Observer

List of the Lost by Morrissey review – the publishers should be ashamed of themselves - The Observer
by Ed Cumming
The singer’s dreadful debut novel is plotless and written in sixth-form prose

Summary: "Morrissey can’t be blamed for believing in his own brilliance. But the spineless mandarins at Penguin who brought this to print should be ashamed of themselves. At a time when the traditional fiction market is under attack from all sides, publishers need to reassure us that their judgement is still valuable. This fiasco of a novel does precisely the opposite."

Shot of page from today's newspaper:


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"At a time when the traditional fiction market is under attack from all sides, publishers need to reassure us that their judgement is still valuable. This fiasco of a novel does precisely the opposite."

I love it -- now Morrissey is partially responsible for the ongoing erosion of the publishing industry!

This ongoing journo pile-on feels like a lot of frustrated wannabes who couldn't get their own novels published and are lashing out.

About 20% through List and enjoying it. Yes, there are some clunky passages, but the cries of "unreadable" are way over the top. It flows its own way, and there are numerous gems that haven't been mentioned in the press. Ezra and Eliza's verbal tennis match had me laughing out loud. The intense images of athleticism juxtaposed with inevitable death quite powerful.

Make up your own minds, readers!
 
I'm starting to see these repetitive reviews as an attack on Penguin rather than Morrissey. I think Penguin allowing Morrisseys Autobiography to be a Penguin Classic annoyed the industry? Good reviews will start to appear once the dust jacket settles.
 
"At a time when the traditional fiction market is under attack from all sides, publishers need to reassure us that their judgement is still valuable. This fiasco of a novel does precisely the opposite."

I love it -- now Morrissey is partially responsible for the ongoing erosion of the publishing industry!

This ongoing journo pile-on feels like a lot of frustrated wannabes who couldn't get their own novels published and are lashing out.

About 20% through List and enjoying it. Yes, there are some clunky passages, but the cries of "unreadable" are way over the top. It flows its own way, and there are numerous gems that haven't been mentioned in the press. Ezra and Eliza's verbal tennis match had me laughing out loud. The intense images of athleticism juxtaposed with inevitable death quite powerful.

Make up your own minds, readers!

Tell us what u think when finished. You seem like a reasonable adult
 
"At a time when the traditional fiction market is under attack from all sides, publishers need to reassure us that their judgement is still valuable. This fiasco of a novel does precisely the opposite."

I love it -- now Morrissey is partially responsible for the ongoing erosion of the publishing industry!

You need to read that again. That is absolutely not what was said. At all. The publisher is being blamed for their shocking judgement. Not Morrissey.
 
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I'm starting to see these repetitive reviews as an attack on Penguin rather than Morrissey. I think Penguin allowing Morrisseys Autobiography to be a Penguin Classic annoyed the industry? Good reviews will start to appear once the dust jacket settles.

L M F A O !

Benny-the-British-Butcher
 
There is a very dull bandwagon forming now. How ridiculous to suggest that by printing this novel Penguin are contributing to the death of the 'traditional fiction market'. Er, I think digital technology might be the culprit there. Culture in the UK is basically run by posh boys who went to public school. How dare Morrissey publish a novel. Everyone should publish a novel. Everyone should write poetry or make a movie. f*** the lot of them.
 
I'm starting to see these repetitive reviews as an attack on Penguin rather than Morrissey. I think Penguin allowing Morrisseys Autobiography to be a Penguin Classic annoyed the industry? Good reviews will start to appear once the dust jacket settles.

Bollocks!
 
I fully understand that in these days of self-publishing, traditional publishers should try and act as barriers to total crap, but I think Penguin were in a bit of a tricky place here. They've obviously made a packet on 'Autobiography', and if they didn't publish 'List of the Lost' some other publisher would take the money and run. There might also be an element of keeping Moz sweet, so that in a few years volume 2 of his autobiography appears.

Ultimately, they are a business, so I can't blame them for not taking the high ground and declining to publish.
 
i'm starting to see these repetitive reviews as an attack on penguin rather than morrissey. I think penguin allowing morrisseys autobiography to be a penguin classic annoyed the industry? Good reviews will start to appear once the dust jacket settles.


lollll!
 
I'm starting to see these repetitive reviews as an attack on Penguin rather than Morrissey. I think Penguin allowing Morrisseys Autobiography to be a Penguin Classic annoyed the industry? Good reviews will start to appear once the dust jacket settles.

The people are started to realize it. This quote helps them to see. Now I've been noticing some positive reviews also. I think you've hit the mark on this one.
 
The people are started to realize it. This quote helps them to see. Now I've been noticing some positive reviews also. I think you've hit the mark on this one.

Bullshit. LOTL is f***ing shite. Morrissey is a twat and you diehard fans are deluded as f***.
LOTL is really, really bad.
 
That's not necessarily true. Some of my favorite books I've read like that. Not everything is easily digestible.

Very true. Like it or not I'd be nice to see them at least acknowledge that he's writing in established literary traditions
 
That's not necessarily true. Some of my favorite books I've read like that. Not everything is easily digestible.

Great point. What most of these detractors fail to realize, is that List Of The Lost is not some cookie cutter book. You can't just flip through it, hoping to kill some time. You're gonna have to actually think about something. Challenge yourself. The things most of these critics avoid doing.
 

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