I enjoyed this NYT collection of terrible reviews for now-classic books. Of course hindsight is 20-20, and honest critique in any form is difficult – but it still feels good to poke some fun at those silly critics.
For something similar in the VC world, check out Bessemer’s famous anti-portfolio.
Favorites below:
“Shall we frankly declare that, after the most deliberate consideration of Mr. Darwin’s arguments, we remain unconvinced?” On the Origin of Species, by Charles Darwin (1860)
“The average intelligent reader will glean little or nothing from it … save bewilderment and a sense of disgust.” Ulysses, by James Joyce (1922)
“This Salinger, he’s a short-story guy.” The Catcher in the Rye, by J.D. Salinger (1951)
“As discouraging as a breakfast of cold porridge.” Collected Poems, by W.B. Yeats (1896)
“There are two equally serious reasons why it isn’t worth any adult reader’s attention. The first is that it is dull, dull, dull in a pretentious, florid and archly fatuous fashion. The second is that it is repulsive.” Lolita, by Vladimir Nabokov (1958)
“Not one syllable of what Hemingway has written can or will be missed by any literate person in the world.” Across the River and Into the Trees, by Ernest Hemingway (1950)
“‘Catch-22’ has much passion, comic and fervent, but it gasps for want of craft and sensibility.” Catch-22, by Joseph Heller (1963)