Inherent Vice review New York Magazine

[Dave Monroe]

On Mon, Aug 3, 2009 at 7:25 AM, Henry Musikar<scuffling at gmail.com> wrote:

> I have read other reviews of books or movies in which the critic admitted, or all but admitted to not liking the author of the work, and I've always wondered at the motivation ...

I watch--even pay to watch--plenty of movies, in particular, that I
"know" I won't like precisely in order to be able legitimately to
complain about them (a major motivation in reading as well, enabling
myself to complain in greater detail/depth).  Can't complain about
something if you haven't suffered through it, no matter how The Moral
Majority does it.  Sometimes, I'm (un?)pleasantly surprised, even ...

It takes rather more time to do this with books, so I'm a little more
selective there (e.g., Ayn Rand and "Left Behind" novels).
Nonetheless, it is imperative indeed to know thine enemy ...

... but even then, one has to give at least grudging admiration where
it is due, or, at any rate, demanded by logical consistency.   So I'll
give the reviewer this much: he's at least up front about both his
preferences and their possible inconsistencies.  De gustibus
disputandum non est?  Nah, that's precisely what criticism is here to
do, but ...

... but we don't complain when the assignments are handed out to fans,
do we?  This is Not Unlike political discourse in this country.  One
person's insight is another's demagoguery.  Sure, "we" know where Bill
O'Reilly and/or Keith Olbermann are coming from, respectively, and can
adjudicate accordingly, but can "they," that is, the hoi polloi, the
great unwashed, the Electorate?  And then there's The Reading Public
...

Somebody's gotta write these things, and maybe the real problem is,
when it comes to yr mass media, it's gonna tend to be someone with An
Opinion, who can get that across as ear- and/or eyecatchingly as
possible as quickly as possible.  In this case, ujnfortunately, tehre
may be that handful of people who actually bread such reviews in the
first plcae who then actually trust them, and skip The Latest
Masterpiece by Our Beloved Author, but ...

Well, we oughtta now by now, Opinion is going to be Divide at best,
and one thing we might have been pleasantly surprised by ourselves is,
how less divided it's been this time 'round.  I suspect IV will prove
more contention on The List than it has in The Press.  Me, I'll still
recommend that neophytes start with Lot 49, read @ least GR if nothing
else, but I also plan on giving away a copy or two (perhaps even the
one that will be held for me tomorrow, and which i'll pick up
nonetheless despite the advance copy given to me) to frineds I think
might at least enjoy it on its own, albeit hopefully as a gateway drug
...