Pushcart's Complete Rotten Reviews and Rejections: A History of Insult, A Solace to Writers

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A few years ago, Pushcart Press issued a series of three books: Rotten Reviews and Rotten Reviews II, edited by Bill Henderson, and Rotten Rejections, edited by André Bernard. All three volumes were hugely popular and Rotten Reviews spent some time on a national bestseller list. Now these hundreds of scathing comments are collected in one edition that will delight readers and offer solace to writers who have endured similar reviews and rejections. For example: Jane Austen was reviewed as a "husband-hunting butterfly." John Barth's early fiction was called "a real recoil." Alice in Wonderland was greeted with "a stiff overwrought story." Reviews of Moby-Dick cited Melville for "tragic-comic bubble and squeak." Classic rejection slips were delivered to John Le Carré's The Spy That Came In from the Cold: "You're welcome to Le Carré he hasn't got any future," and Vladimir Nabokov's Lolita: "I recommend that it be buried under a stone for a thousand years," plus many more. "A welcome bit of fun."—Philadelphia Inquirer