Morrissey: criticisms of debut novel are 'an attack against me' - The Guardian

Re: Morrissey: criticisms of debut novel are 'an attack against me'

If there was a broad sweep of opinions in critical views, then Morrissey should be able to comfortably dismiss it as a few people 'not getting it'. But when every single serious published critic shares the opinion that what you have written is bleedin' awful (I haven't read a single positive review of note - and no, anonymous Amazon reviews don't count) , it might be time to let some air out of that swollen head and accept you are not the greatest writer since Shakespeare.
 
Finally got the book this weekend. Stopped after 4 pages. Unreadable garbage. Morrissey sucks!

Apparently charity bookshops are refusing to take donated copies of list of the lost by McMorrissey because they can't give it away and need the valuable shelf space for the quality books.
Maybe it should be marketed as a fire lighting product in the winter months.

Benny-the-British-Butcher
 
I've read the posts and they're perfectly valid, especially when they said that quoting directly from the book and just saying it's brilliant (which is essentially what you're doing) is no real defence. Nothing wrong with them saying it's shit and trying to explain why they think that- all your replies to that poster have basically been "No, read again little monkey, you're wrong because Morrissey could only ever write amazing prose". Like I said, it's embarrassing.

And yes, I have.

I did not attack to anyone who said that the book is shit and then tried to explain his-her opinion.
I attacked and I will do it again and again to the ones who just say ΅IT¨S SHIT΅ and then they are bullshiting away just due to their hatred and only.
I have read your opinion too. I want to be kind to you and I believe that you just like very easy reading mainstrem literature. If I analyse you will be very sorry...
 
you want people to explain why ttl is shite? you want people to explain why water is wet as well?
 
Every review I've seen focused entirely on construction, syntax and sloppy writing. None of them seemed like an attack to me.
 
"... occasionally there are actual rhymes, and what might be witty and memorable in a lyric becomes maddening when it is deployed in fiction."

Well, I can see why this could be a criticism because we, as readers, don't live in a time where this kind of "singing language" is popular. I use this term because my grandmother, who had been a passionate reader of any classical text, used it when she liked a book or a story. She would read it to me and say "can you hear it sing?" So, I'm quite used to be carried away by reading to the point where you have to read it again because you didn't catch what has been said. Therefore I enjoyed and, in parts, loved LOTL. But, of course, everyone is free to dislike it and I can see why most people don't. It doesn't take away my joy, though and that's how it should be.
 
"... occasionally there are actual rhymes, and what might be witty and memorable in a lyric becomes maddening when it is deployed in fiction."

Well, I can see why this could be a criticism because we, as readers, don't live in a time where this kind of "singing language" is popular. I use this term because my grandmother, who had been a passionate reader of any classical text, used it when she liked a book or a story. She would read it to me and say "can you hear it sing?" So, I'm quite used to be carried away by reading to the point where you have to read it again because you didn't catch what has been said. Therefore I enjoyed and, in parts, loved LOTL. But, of course, everyone is free to dislike it and I can see why most people don't. It doesn't take away my joy, though and that's how it should be.

yeah i like lyrical qualities to fictional prose, especially gothic horror so to speak
 
I have read your opinion too. I want to be kind to you and I believe that you just like very easy reading mainstrem literature. If I analyse you will be very sorry...

Oh, go ahead and analyse all you like. If I only liked 'easy-reading' I wouldn't have bothered spending nine grand on an English degree, so your threats to 'analyse' my intelligence, my taste level, and the validity of my criticisms really don't mean shit to me because I can see you're just determined to be insufferably nasty to whoever you can. Do your f***ing worst. Don't expect a reaction or for me to be 'very sorry', though, because frankly I can't be bothered to engage with you.
 
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"... occasionally there are actual rhymes, and what might be witty and memorable in a lyric becomes maddening when it is deployed in fiction."

Well, I can see why this could be a criticism because we, as readers, don't live in a time where this kind of "singing language" is popular. I use this term because my grandmother, who had been a passionate reader of any classical text, used it when she liked a book or a story. She would read it to me and say "can you hear it sing?" So, I'm quite used to be carried away by reading to the point where you have to read it again because you didn't catch what has been said. Therefore I enjoyed and, in parts, loved LOTL. But, of course, everyone is free to dislike it and I can see why most people don't. It doesn't take away my joy, though and that's how it should be.

:thumb: right on !
 
I received the book in the mail on 30 Sept, but didn't open the package until weeks after. I had already read the reviews and what others on here had to say before ripping the package open. In all honesty, I expected Moz to be attacked on a personal level. After all, this was a new artistic avenue to explore and in many ways quite revealing and intimate on some levels. I never pay attention to critics reviews about anything, though - music, movies, or books. And I certainly don't rely on the thoughts of most of the people who post on this site, so as usual, I put all of that behind me and opened the book with an open mind. I've read it twice now. I'll admit there are parts that go slow and hard to get into, but for the most part I find it interesting, sad, poetic, and unusally funny. In short, I really like it and I hope he will continue writing.
 
Finally got the book this weekend. Stopped after 4 pages. Unreadable garbage. Morrissey sucks!

^^^^^^^^^This dumbf*** has been coming here since June of 2000 and he thinks Morrissey sucks. Yeah. Okay. Right. Check yourself into a mental institution if you haven't already.

- - - Updated - - -

I received the book in the mail on 30 Sept, but didn't open the package until weeks after. I had already read the reviews and what others on here had to say before ripping the package open. In all honesty, I expected Moz to be attacked on a personal level. After all, this was a new artistic avenue to explore and in many ways quite revealing and intimate on some levels. I never pay attention to critics reviews about anything, though - music, movies, or books. And I certainly don't rely on the thoughts of most of the people who post on this site, so as usual, I put all of that behind me and opened the book with an open mind. I've read it twice now. I'll admit there are parts that go slow and hard to get into, but for the most part I find it interesting, sad, poetic, and unusally funny. In short, I really like it and I hope he will continue writing.

I'm glad you're still alive and well hand in glove.

Sincerely,
an old friend
 
I received the book in the mail on 30 Sept, but didn't open the package until weeks after. I had already read the reviews and what others on here had to say before ripping the package open. In all honesty, I expected Moz to be attacked on a personal level. After all, this was a new artistic avenue to explore and in many ways quite revealing and intimate on some levels. I never pay attention to critics reviews about anything, though - music, movies, or books. And I certainly don't rely on the thoughts of most of the people who post on this site, so as usual, I put all of that behind me and opened the book with an open mind. I've read it twice now. I'll admit there are parts that go slow and hard to get into, but for the most part I find it interesting, sad, poetic, and unusally funny. In short, I really like it and I hope he will continue writing.


the book is truly sad. tragically sad. its 100 pages but its like reading war and peace.
 
hmm.
today must be the day you are allowed use of the computer at the funny farm.
 
"[T]here is nevertheless a clear theme that emerges in List of the Lost: namely that the depth of personal tragedy one encounters is a measure of how thoroughly one’s quest for an authentic life has been thwarted—either through self-denial, religiously-inspired prejudice, social convention, or some combination of each. The most likely scenario, apparently, is a death-spiral of tragedy upon tragedy. But the twin trophies of authenticity and integrity glimmer still, if only in the far distance. Morrissey has chased them from the beginning, with track-and-field determination, and his persistence is what has made him a cult icon. His legions follow in his quick steps, hoping to catch one carefully measured word as he passes them on, baton-like, to loyalists and hangers-on."

- From my review of List of the Lost at The Revealer, a publication of NYU's Center for Religion and Media:
http://therevealer.org/archives/20440
 
the last thing the world needs is a list of the lost like review of the list of the lost. please go back and make it readable.
 

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