Another hit. I think you broke down every major instance of friction I felt on my readthrough. I really enjoy how your reviews feel like walking out of a movie theater into the still-bright evening, arguing with an enviably smart friend, distilled into an article - it's a cool and rare feeling to apply to literature. Just very good.
If there's any unique praise I have for Lost Lambs, it's that it has generated some excellently written critical reviews.
This review was so fantastic!! The book totally read to me like a prestige dramedy in prose, at times i felt like i could see the camera move. Prestige dramedy in the sense of having all the trappings of a prestige dramedy but not actually being all that "prestigious," imo.
Hilarious piece, and extremely well written. I was about to get the book myself since It was recommended by The Economist (not without some reserve though), and I tend to like their book recommendations. But I think I'm going to wait for the Tom Hanks version.
I try not to read reviews when I know I’m going to read a book (or consume any media) so I go in as fresh as possible. I read the reviews after I wrote mine, and I was deeply amused at the careful verbiage of the reviews. US reviews of literary fiction tend to skew towards the fulsome (or rather, I suppose, they’re circling the wagons) so when even those reviews coughed that there may be something a leeeetle less than perfect about this buzzy debut, I knew what to think.
Another hit. I think you broke down every major instance of friction I felt on my readthrough. I really enjoy how your reviews feel like walking out of a movie theater into the still-bright evening, arguing with an enviably smart friend, distilled into an article - it's a cool and rare feeling to apply to literature. Just very good.
If there's any unique praise I have for Lost Lambs, it's that it has generated some excellently written critical reviews.
Oh, this is so lovely to hear! I know the feeling you mean, and it is one of my most cherished ones, so I’m very moved to hear that I evoke it.
And yes, Lost Lambs is charming enough, but deeply ‘eh, I guess’.
YES the whole book felt so 2000s! Eating disorders........ ISIS paranoia............ teens dating 23-year-olds............ welcome back, 2003
Loved this article. Your writing is so funny.
It was SO 2000s, I was genuinely so discombobulated. And thank you so much!
Enjoyed your review. I wrote a piece in March about Lost Lambs that may be of interest to you, called, "Is This Big 5 Editing? You Tell Me."
https://brutusmac.substack.com/p/is-this-big-5-editing-you-tell-me?r=6aexdu
Aha, getting out knife and fork
This review was so fantastic!! The book totally read to me like a prestige dramedy in prose, at times i felt like i could see the camera move. Prestige dramedy in the sense of having all the trappings of a prestige dramedy but not actually being all that "prestigious," imo.
Yes, exactly! It was like someone had described what a prestige dramedy was like, not very well, and Cash was trying to get that down on paper.
Hilarious piece, and extremely well written. I was about to get the book myself since It was recommended by The Economist (not without some reserve though), and I tend to like their book recommendations. But I think I'm going to wait for the Tom Hanks version.
I try not to read reviews when I know I’m going to read a book (or consume any media) so I go in as fresh as possible. I read the reviews after I wrote mine, and I was deeply amused at the careful verbiage of the reviews. US reviews of literary fiction tend to skew towards the fulsome (or rather, I suppose, they’re circling the wagons) so when even those reviews coughed that there may be something a leeeetle less than perfect about this buzzy debut, I knew what to think.