Critics’ Choice
Ask most writers about reviews and critics and they will either air out praise---what the New York Times said about they’re latest book--- or quote Brendan Behan, who once famously said,
“Critics are like eunuchs in a harem; they know how it's done; they've seen it done every day, but they're unable to do it themselves.”
Believe it or not (see Bob’s books on this site) I’ve been very fortunate to get some kind words from critics. That said, the ones that have stuck with me over the years have been, shall we say, less than complimentary.
Call me deranged but one was so disenchanting I framed it and hung it on my office wall.
When reviewing my first published novel, The Comeback Kids the reviewer from The Columbus Dispatch said, “Cairns’ book is for and about men. His understanding of women appears to have come from well-read Sports Illustrated swim-suit issues.”
Ouch!
Publishers Weekly pretty much called “The Comeback Kids” a rip off of “The Bad News Bears” and if I might be huffy for a minute or two here “The Comeback Kids” was nothing like The Bad News Bears.
Speaking of critics when my book “Pen Men,” on relief pitching came out, I received a personal note in the day when an individual felt a great need to be critical, they had to write a letter and lick a stamp. So, I received a snail-mail letter from the head of the Baseball Writers’ Association of America. He led with light applause and then queries as to how anyone could write a book on relief pitching and not include Jarome Holtzman, the Chicago Tribune writer who invented the save rule?
I took great pleasure in jotting an enveloped note to my critic saying the error on this play went to my publisher because they listed Ken Holtzman, the pitcher, in the index and had they done their homework would have realized I’d (referring to the pages in the book) included a personal interview with Jerome Holtzman describing how he came up with the save rule while bouncing between games on a bus ride from Chicago to St. Louis!!!!!
The “eunuch” had obviously never read the book. He’d gone right to the index found Jerome Holtzman missing and then taken the time---letter and stamp---to remind me of my “failure.”
