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Sour Grapes
‘Dan Rhodes is a true original’ – Hilary Mantel
When the sleepy English village of Green Bottom hosts its first literary festival, the good, the bad and the ugly of the book world descend upon its leafy lanes. But the villagers are not prepared for the peculiar habits, petty rivalries and unspeakable desires of the authors. And they are certainly not equipped to deal with Wilberforce Selfram, the ghoul-faced, ageing enfant terrible who wreaks havoc wherever he goes.
Sour Grapes is a hilarious satire on the literary world which takes no prisoners as it skewers authors, agents, publishers and reviewers alike.
When the sleepy English village of Green Bottom hosts its first literary festival, the good, the bad and the ugly of the book world descend upon its leafy lanes. But the villagers are not prepared for the peculiar habits, petty rivalries and unspeakable desires of the authors. And they are certainly not equipped to deal with Wilberforce Selfram, the ghoul-faced, ageing enfant terrible who wreaks havoc wherever he goes.
Sour Grapes is a hilarious satire on the literary world which takes no prisoners as it skewers authors, agents, publishers and reviewers alike.
384 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 2021
26 people are currently reading
1329 people want to read
About the author
Dan Rhodes
14 books198 followersIt should be noted that a recent Gallup poll revealed that there are an estimated 14,000 writers worldwide who share Rhodes’ name. He is not to be confused with the Daniel Rhodes who writes books about vampires, or the Daniel Rhodes who writes books about ceramics, or the Dan Rhodes who writes books about theology, or the Danny Rhodes who writes teenage fiction, or the character Sheriff Dan Rhodes in Bill Crider’s Western detective series, or any of the many other Dan/Daniel/Danny Rhodeses out there in bookland.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 59 reviews
October 28, 2021
This novel is symptomatic of a broad cultural malaise, and doesn’t so much satirise the publishing industry as the whole sorry state of the nation. Very clever and very, very funny, and despite what Will self says, highly contemporary.
October 31, 2021
I loved When the Professor Got Stuck in the Snow so I downloaded Sour Grapes without bothering with the review.
Suffice to say Dan Rhodes does not let one down. He swipes at the various enfants terrible of the literary world, the publishing world in general and himself. He's a equal opportunities swiper to say the least. He even throws in a love story for good measure.
He wraps up this not quite diatribe in story that made me snort out loud and smirk so much that I was asked what was wrong with my face.
The only problem is once you've finished that you can't read more because of real publishing fights over his back catalogue. Read the book if you want more detail to this.
Highly recommended.
Suffice to say Dan Rhodes does not let one down. He swipes at the various enfants terrible of the literary world, the publishing world in general and himself. He's a equal opportunities swiper to say the least. He even throws in a love story for good measure.
He wraps up this not quite diatribe in story that made me snort out loud and smirk so much that I was asked what was wrong with my face.
The only problem is once you've finished that you can't read more because of real publishing fights over his back catalogue. Read the book if you want more detail to this.
Highly recommended.
October 25, 2021
Every right-thinking person in publishing, from the grandest of grandees to the the most modest of literary festival workers, will love this book. Every wrong-thinking person in publishing should also read it, because they will almost certainly find themselves depicted in it. It is as funny as Wodehouse and as page-turning as whatever book you normally find totally addictive. I hope many outraged people try to discredit it and accidentally make it a media sensation outside the publishing industry as well as inside.
November 4, 2021
I stumbled across this book by chance, and I'm so glad that I did! I haven't properly laughed out loud whilst reading a book since Puckoon. I trust Wilberforce Selfram takes a similar view
December 10, 2021
Hilarious. And even more full of barbs than a Stranger Things convention.
December 27, 2021
An absolute hoot of a book, which had me in fits of laughter on many occasions. Almost prepared to forgive its slightly outlandish nature, but it was a touch bizarre at times. Worth it though.
June 17, 2023
No one gets away scot-free under Rhodes' satirical eye - writers, publishers, politicians, left, right, parsons, villagers, lords and ladies, J.K. Rowling, and even himself - blethering idiots and narcicists, all.
A small village in sleepy rural England is chosen to host an unknown literary festival. As we meet a host of ridiculous characters, a more sinister plot emerges, and the powers behind the publishing world and big business are unmasked.
Rhodes makes the difficult job of writing comedic fiction look easy. His knack of finding the foibles in people is only matched by his ability to build whole characters around them, and undertake some good-natured ribbing.
I loved the moments he broke the fourth wall, having his own book feature in the narrative, and
pointing out the terrible cliche of writing a book about a literary festival.
If I had any criticism it'd be in the length. Knocking 30% off would have tightened the structure and intensified the funniest bits when we come to meet the characters and understand their flaws. Too much was spent in the logistics of tying things up towards the end, which is naturally less humourous.
A very clever book, and one that deserves to be much better known. Thanks to @monsmontis for the recommendation. (I finally got to it!) I'm also intrigued how the librarians of Christchurch, NZ got a shout out... Anyone know?
A small village in sleepy rural England is chosen to host an unknown literary festival. As we meet a host of ridiculous characters, a more sinister plot emerges, and the powers behind the publishing world and big business are unmasked.
Rhodes makes the difficult job of writing comedic fiction look easy. His knack of finding the foibles in people is only matched by his ability to build whole characters around them, and undertake some good-natured ribbing.
I loved the moments he broke the fourth wall, having his own book feature in the narrative, and
pointing out the terrible cliche of writing a book about a literary festival.
If I had any criticism it'd be in the length. Knocking 30% off would have tightened the structure and intensified the funniest bits when we come to meet the characters and understand their flaws. Too much was spent in the logistics of tying things up towards the end, which is naturally less humourous.
A very clever book, and one that deserves to be much better known. Thanks to @monsmontis for the recommendation. (I finally got to it!) I'm also intrigued how the librarians of Christchurch, NZ got a shout out... Anyone know?
May 23, 2022
This was the perfect silly, satirical read that I needed! so thank you Dan Rhodes!!! It's a hilarious look at the literary world, and all who inhabit it, set against the backdrop of a literary festival and the author goes to town, with great relish it seems, with making fun at the madness of various characters that can be found from the highs of the publishing world and all those beneath!
It is full of far fetched and hilarious situations that I found to be utterly delightful and often found myself grinning and chuckling away at the madness of it all, but it has that more-ish quality that I love in a story! Just one more page, one more chapter... ooh it's the end! how did that happen!!
It shows up perfectly the silliness of the world we find ourselves living in and it's fun trying to work out the inspiration behind many of the characters. The locals of Green Bottom have no idea what's about to hit them when the festival turns up in town and chaos ensues! A must have for any bookshelf!! Go buy it!!
It is full of far fetched and hilarious situations that I found to be utterly delightful and often found myself grinning and chuckling away at the madness of it all, but it has that more-ish quality that I love in a story! Just one more page, one more chapter... ooh it's the end! how did that happen!!
It shows up perfectly the silliness of the world we find ourselves living in and it's fun trying to work out the inspiration behind many of the characters. The locals of Green Bottom have no idea what's about to hit them when the festival turns up in town and chaos ensues! A must have for any bookshelf!! Go buy it!!
September 24, 2024
Fondly named, the slug book, my family heard too many anecdotes from this story about a man who eats slugs. While totally and utter silly and completely dumb, it did have some very funny moments that made me laugh out loud. I liked Richard and Ayanna the most, and liked seeing them grow, and did enjoy reading about the antics in the festival. I’ve never read a book written in the style of Sour Grapes, and I’m not sure I would again as I found myself a little lost by the end. I mainly picked this up because of the fantastic slug on the cover. The beautiful drawings are on chapter headings as well.
A bit frivolous for me but totally unlike anything I’ve ever read before.
A bit frivolous for me but totally unlike anything I’ve ever read before.
November 1, 2021
This was great fun to read, with great big satirical pokes at pretty much everyone in the literary circuit. The humour was at times too manic, too over the top, it would have been just as funny (and sarcastic) with a little more restraint.
August 13, 2022
A hilarious book that takes no prisoners in the literary world. The satire was consistently hilarious although perhaps at times lacked the subtlety and sophistication that could have heightened the comedy.
August 26, 2022
2.5 sterren die ik aanvankelijk omlaag wilde afronden maar toen tegen het einde was er een JK Rowling cameo die me hardop liet grinniken dus nou vooruit dan maar, Dan, we ronden hem af naar boven
May 24, 2023
I don't know how to write a review to truly encapsulate how hilarious this book was. Please read it.
August 11, 2025
utterly absurd British satire, had good fun reading it
November 9, 2023
There was a note from the publisher on the last page asking for a review/recommendation and it was so sweet and polite which immediately made me realise that my 4-4.5 stars have actually been 5 stars all along (and it also made me realise that I'm very susceptible to literary 'and don't forget to like, comment and subscribe'isms).
Now!! Silly Billy hours aside, what a charming book! How cosy, how delightful! You wouldn't think that, based on the sheer amount of poop-related anecdotes and jokes and yet!
Honestly reading this book felt like watching one of those old British comedy series but like, if they were good. The humour in this really worked with me, I thought it was a very clever, witty and funny book. The only thing I was on the fence about was perhaps the inclusion of Sour Grapes within the story but honestly, if I wrote a book, I too would see the appeal in writing self-insert fanfiction about how incredibly successful it will be.
I will say, however, that there were two whole Bulgaria mentions in the book, which might not seem like much for an almost-400 page book, but that's still two more than the average I would expect. Mr Rhodes, what aren't you telling us? Is there a Bulgarian grandma in your family tree? Or did you go to Sunny Beach?
Anyways, I'm not going to lie, these reviews are much harder when I actually like a book. It's just... a really good book. Trust me. The characters are super charming as well, which kind of goes with the good humour of the book because they're all just silly Billies, billying around their cute little village. There's a parson (which is unlike a vicar, but also maybe not?), a Margaret Thatcher (it's not THE Margaret or, for my ao3 girlies, AU, personality-swap, 2k fluff), four Bells (they have a dog and a Caleb Rivers-coded son - he's a hacker) and that's just a handful of the characters in the village, not even accounting for Wilberforce Selfram (the Bulgarian aficionado) who I can't even begin to explain.
Also featuring a cameo from that one woman who wrote about the boy with the Opel scar, and she's just as horrible as you'd imagine.
Now!! Silly Billy hours aside, what a charming book! How cosy, how delightful! You wouldn't think that, based on the sheer amount of poop-related anecdotes and jokes and yet!
Honestly reading this book felt like watching one of those old British comedy series but like, if they were good. The humour in this really worked with me, I thought it was a very clever, witty and funny book. The only thing I was on the fence about was perhaps the inclusion of Sour Grapes within the story but honestly, if I wrote a book, I too would see the appeal in writing self-insert fanfiction about how incredibly successful it will be.
I will say, however, that there were two whole Bulgaria mentions in the book, which might not seem like much for an almost-400 page book, but that's still two more than the average I would expect. Mr Rhodes, what aren't you telling us? Is there a Bulgarian grandma in your family tree? Or did you go to Sunny Beach?
Anyways, I'm not going to lie, these reviews are much harder when I actually like a book. It's just... a really good book. Trust me. The characters are super charming as well, which kind of goes with the good humour of the book because they're all just silly Billies, billying around their cute little village. There's a parson (which is unlike a vicar, but also maybe not?), a Margaret Thatcher (it's not THE Margaret or, for my ao3 girlies, AU, personality-swap, 2k fluff), four Bells (they have a dog and a Caleb Rivers-coded son - he's a hacker) and that's just a handful of the characters in the village, not even accounting for Wilberforce Selfram (the Bulgarian aficionado) who I can't even begin to explain.
Also featuring a cameo from that one woman who wrote about the boy with the Opel scar, and she's just as horrible as you'd imagine.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
August 15, 2024
Silly, sour satire - possibly my favourite accidental library find so far
October 16, 2021
I read this book practically nonstop from yesterday to this morning. If you enjoy satire, please read this book. The author rules the genre.
October 7, 2021
A hilarious book. I discovered Dan Rhodes' books a few years ago and really enjoy his humour. This book is a vicious satire on the publishing industry which put me in mind of the political cartoons of the 18th century. But more than that it is a superbly funny read .
May 29, 2023
Ugh, parts of it are funny, but it all becomes so silly and farcical that it was such a chore getting through it. This could have worked as a short story, but the author seems way too pleased with himself. The characters are unlikeable, the narrative too unbelievable. Maybe I’m being unfair, but I find English comedy isn’t my jam.
November 8, 2021
I like Dan Rhodes' books, and enjoyed this one. Not my favourite of his novels, but it's good to get a new one from him.
June 25, 2024
A quiet village in the English countryside becomes the unwitting vortex for international espionage, shady corporations’ plans, billionaire’s balloon-popping antics, incel romance… and a literary festival. And all because the lady loves Milk Tray Dan Rhodes has some gripes about the book world!
Dan Rhodes revisits a familiar template he used in his earlier novel When the Professor Got Stuck in the Snow for Sour Grapes wherein he presents a mid-level celebrity in an unflattering light as they struggle a bit with life in the English countryside in a village with “Bottom” in the name (I know this as the only other Dan Rhodes novel I have read is coincidentally that book, despite Rhodes having written several more). Last time it was Professor Richard Dawkins and this time it’s Will Self - and like When the Professor…, Sour Grapes isn’t a bad novel.
Rhodes (legally - probably?) covers himself by tweaking the name slightly to Wilberforce Selfram in an appropriately long-winded name for a writer known forhis lugubriously Sesquipedalian speech using unnecessarily complicated words in place of simpler ones. And it’s quite a humorous portrayal, especially if you’re familiar with Self’s appearance/manner. Rhodes has him eating slugs and hanging out in publishing houses’ backrooms (along with another cleverly disguised writer, Johann Hari, here presented as Harry Johannes) pitifully waiting for any kind of public appearance engagement.
Why Will Self (or the Dawk for that matter)? No idea. Maybe Rhodes has had some run-ins with him and decided he’d give him the business the only way he knows how. Although, while Rhodes’ Selfram is mocked throughout, he does come off quite likeably towards the end, even acting heroically once, so it’s not a total character assassination.
Other (vastly more famous) authors don’t come off quite so well with JK Rowling presented as a one-dimensional money-grubbing villain and Salman Rushdie as a status-obsessed creep. To his credit, Rhodes doesn’t leave himself out either, breaking the fourth wall to knock his own non-fame in the rather drawn-out final chapter as well as in the cartoonish publishing house chapters (he also points out that this novel bears a resemblance to his Dawkins story).
For a novel framed as a cosy narrative about a book festival in a rural setting, a number of elements you’d expect to see in a Lee Child novel get thrown in. Rhodes includes Russian interference in the west, energy companies’ collusion with the government, and murder most foul. Some of it keeps the narrative interesting while other elements (the fracking) are dealt with in such a silly manner that it makes their inclusion seem pointless and makes the overall novel feel too farcical. Ditto the way publishing houses are presented as Satanic cults - for all Rhodes’ imagination, his choice to show publishers like this felt uncreative and dull.
Sour Grapes is a mix of things that are successfully compelling (every time Selfram, Mrs Brushicini and Mara showed up, the cancel culture commentary, the Rushdie cameo) and others that aren’t (the incel romance, the publishing houses’ dark ceremonies, Selfram’s secret revealed). At times, the book drags and I felt like it could’ve done with some editing - removing some of those elements that bogged the story down, like the energy company stuff - to pick up the pace a bit. It’s a well-written and accessible book but it’s also a little too leisurely in its telling a bit too often.
Still, if you enjoy gently humorous stories along the tonal lines of Terry Pratchett and Ben Elton, Dan Rhodes’ Sour Grapes, and When The Professor Got Stuck in the Snow for that matter, are both worth checking out for easy, lightly amusing reads.
Dan Rhodes revisits a familiar template he used in his earlier novel When the Professor Got Stuck in the Snow for Sour Grapes wherein he presents a mid-level celebrity in an unflattering light as they struggle a bit with life in the English countryside in a village with “Bottom” in the name (I know this as the only other Dan Rhodes novel I have read is coincidentally that book, despite Rhodes having written several more). Last time it was Professor Richard Dawkins and this time it’s Will Self - and like When the Professor…, Sour Grapes isn’t a bad novel.
Rhodes (legally - probably?) covers himself by tweaking the name slightly to Wilberforce Selfram in an appropriately long-winded name for a writer known for
Why Will Self (or the Dawk for that matter)? No idea. Maybe Rhodes has had some run-ins with him and decided he’d give him the business the only way he knows how. Although, while Rhodes’ Selfram is mocked throughout, he does come off quite likeably towards the end, even acting heroically once, so it’s not a total character assassination.
Other (vastly more famous) authors don’t come off quite so well with JK Rowling presented as a one-dimensional money-grubbing villain and Salman Rushdie as a status-obsessed creep. To his credit, Rhodes doesn’t leave himself out either, breaking the fourth wall to knock his own non-fame in the rather drawn-out final chapter as well as in the cartoonish publishing house chapters (he also points out that this novel bears a resemblance to his Dawkins story).
For a novel framed as a cosy narrative about a book festival in a rural setting, a number of elements you’d expect to see in a Lee Child novel get thrown in. Rhodes includes Russian interference in the west, energy companies’ collusion with the government, and murder most foul. Some of it keeps the narrative interesting while other elements (the fracking) are dealt with in such a silly manner that it makes their inclusion seem pointless and makes the overall novel feel too farcical. Ditto the way publishing houses are presented as Satanic cults - for all Rhodes’ imagination, his choice to show publishers like this felt uncreative and dull.
Sour Grapes is a mix of things that are successfully compelling (every time Selfram, Mrs Brushicini and Mara showed up, the cancel culture commentary, the Rushdie cameo) and others that aren’t (the incel romance, the publishing houses’ dark ceremonies, Selfram’s secret revealed). At times, the book drags and I felt like it could’ve done with some editing - removing some of those elements that bogged the story down, like the energy company stuff - to pick up the pace a bit. It’s a well-written and accessible book but it’s also a little too leisurely in its telling a bit too often.
Still, if you enjoy gently humorous stories along the tonal lines of Terry Pratchett and Ben Elton, Dan Rhodes’ Sour Grapes, and When The Professor Got Stuck in the Snow for that matter, are both worth checking out for easy, lightly amusing reads.
December 26, 2024
I read this for a family book club but I'm afraid I was lukewarm on it. It needs polish. It reminded me of When the Professor Got Stuck In the Snow, and it obviously reminds the author of it too because he says as much in the extended fourth-wall-break at the end of the book. In this case the pompous windbag at the centre of the action is not a simulacrum of Richard Dawkins but Wilberforce Selfram (presumably, Will Self, although he does a bit of work trying to blur his identity towards the end). Sadly, it's not a funny enough character to carry the book though. His pedantic way of talking gets tedious after a while. It would have been better to have him as a minor character, I think.
There are some great set pieces though, especially the Salmam Rushdie scene near the middle. We could have used more of those and less Selfram.
The jabs at cancel culture are more nuanced than you'd expect from the average fifty-something man, but the takes on JK Rowling somehow manage to be less nuanced than the average 18 year old theyfab. What the heck happened there? The stuff about the class structure of the publishing industry is pretty good, and the secret, blood-drinking cabal that runs it, but again, I couldn't understand why he didn't develop the idea a bit more and turn it into a proper plot instead of a sideshow.
All in all, it's a weird book that needed a rewrite to tidy it up a bit.
There are some great set pieces though, especially the Salmam Rushdie scene near the middle. We could have used more of those and less Selfram.
The jabs at cancel culture are more nuanced than you'd expect from the average fifty-something man, but the takes on JK Rowling somehow manage to be less nuanced than the average 18 year old theyfab. What the heck happened there? The stuff about the class structure of the publishing industry is pretty good, and the secret, blood-drinking cabal that runs it, but again, I couldn't understand why he didn't develop the idea a bit more and turn it into a proper plot instead of a sideshow.
All in all, it's a weird book that needed a rewrite to tidy it up a bit.
November 11, 2021
Dan Rhodes has been around for a while as an author and has been hailed for his talent over the years as much as for writing on subjects that sail close to the wind. His latest book, Sour Grapes (Lightning Books), features literary and publishing types, and authors in general, who attend a book festival devised to put a small town on the map. Fans of Dan Rhodes may not be surprised that many of the characters featured do not come off particularly well, and some are less disguised than others. There is a festival organiser called Florence Peters and an author whose raison d’etre is to use the longest, most complicated words possible – his name is Wilberforce Selfram. Dan Rhodes appears himself in the book writing Sour Grapes and while it is often funny and the targets probably deserving, the whole conceit seems somewhat stretched in this format.
February 7, 2022
What a bizarre but enjoyable book!
It is set at a literary festival (that is a cover for a darker secret) and is a pastiche of the publishing industry. Not really knowing how the publishing industry works I’m sure many of the jokes went straight over my head, but those that hit were genuinely funny, and one thing a real author was heard the utter within the context of the story actually made me gasp and then laugh rather loudly.
It’s weird and meta – the book is actually a book within its own frame of reference, as is the real author. Many real people appear as grotesque versions of themselves, apart from the aforementioned real famous author who is probably a lot more obnoxious in real life than they appear to be here!
Definitely a giggle, I’m glad I took a punt on this at random when browsing the new releases in Waterstones.
It is set at a literary festival (that is a cover for a darker secret) and is a pastiche of the publishing industry. Not really knowing how the publishing industry works I’m sure many of the jokes went straight over my head, but those that hit were genuinely funny, and one thing a real author was heard the utter within the context of the story actually made me gasp and then laugh rather loudly.
It’s weird and meta – the book is actually a book within its own frame of reference, as is the real author. Many real people appear as grotesque versions of themselves, apart from the aforementioned real famous author who is probably a lot more obnoxious in real life than they appear to be here!
Definitely a giggle, I’m glad I took a punt on this at random when browsing the new releases in Waterstones.
January 29, 2023
I urge readers of this book to do two things.
Firstly, please don’t take it too seriously. It’s a satire. And a very good one at that. It’s not supposed to be real. It’s post-post modern (yes, that is a thing). It’s funny. It’s weird. It breaks the rules, but also adheres to them. I know that’s a contradiction. It was meant to be. It has a love story. There may even be a death, or two. It ticks those boxes. It just doesn’t stay within the lines.
Secondly, please take this book seriously. It’s a genuine poke at the publishing world. It’s also a thoughtful poke at the British way of running most things, from the top down. I am the co-director of a small publishing company. It’s a tough business. Dan Rhodes has nailed it. Top marks from me. Five stars. Or whatever. I only wish I were his publisher. Reviews matter to authors. This book deserves a good one.
Firstly, please don’t take it too seriously. It’s a satire. And a very good one at that. It’s not supposed to be real. It’s post-post modern (yes, that is a thing). It’s funny. It’s weird. It breaks the rules, but also adheres to them. I know that’s a contradiction. It was meant to be. It has a love story. There may even be a death, or two. It ticks those boxes. It just doesn’t stay within the lines.
Secondly, please take this book seriously. It’s a genuine poke at the publishing world. It’s also a thoughtful poke at the British way of running most things, from the top down. I am the co-director of a small publishing company. It’s a tough business. Dan Rhodes has nailed it. Top marks from me. Five stars. Or whatever. I only wish I were his publisher. Reviews matter to authors. This book deserves a good one.
April 1, 2022
Kudos to the librarian who featured this on the shelf as I would otherwise not have discovered this little gem. It doesn’t matter if you don’t know or care about the literary world, its festivals, publishing houses, or reviewers. The satire is straight-forward but accessible and often effective. There is a universality to the cast of characters, from the town folk of Green Bottom to the shady forces behind MI7 and the Brotherhood of Darkness (the author Dan Rhodes eschews subtlety for LOLs) that you can probably identify in some around you. It might be more fun to read the ebook rather than a hard copy in case you want to look up all the strange but interesting words that the sesquipedalian protagonist Wilberforce Selfram is fond of using.
February 7, 2023
Another fantastic Dan Rhodes novel! I was laughing throughout (per usual) and his depiction of the publishing industry was pure gold.
On a side note: I also read this letter The Curious Incident of the Dog & The Missing Royalties and I now know why it had been practically impossible for me to find his other books. (I read This Is Life several years ago and wanted to devour all his other novels, but could rarely find them available.) What a despicable situation Rhodes is in! It makes this book all the better given the backstory. Go Rhodes! And thank you Lightening Eye Books for publishing.
Here is Dan's letter: https://danrhodes.co.uk/books/the-cur...
On a side note: I also read this letter The Curious Incident of the Dog & The Missing Royalties and I now know why it had been practically impossible for me to find his other books. (I read This Is Life several years ago and wanted to devour all his other novels, but could rarely find them available.) What a despicable situation Rhodes is in! It makes this book all the better given the backstory. Go Rhodes! And thank you Lightening Eye Books for publishing.
Here is Dan's letter: https://danrhodes.co.uk/books/the-cur...
July 12, 2023
Poor slugs. A little village gets a big literary festival hoisted upon it and all sorts of things go wrong or unfold unexpectedly. The satire is more mean than funny to me, perhaps it's because I don't really care about the "literary world" enough for the barbs to hit with me. Ayanna is a nice character though and she doesn't feel completely cartoonish (partially because she actually seems to like books). There were some amusing moments, but also lots of moments that felt put together just to lead up to a punchline which got a bit wearing after awhile.
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November 3, 2025can’t believe i’m DNF��ing a book again but i just don’t understand what all the good reviews are about??? this is the most boring uninteresting unfunny book ever like i didn’t enjoy it at all, it takes so much energy to get through that today on the train i was just like, no i choose me!!! i can’t deal with this rn
the writing and vibe of this entire book is literally this ‘uuuuuuuuuugggggggghhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh’ so slow and grating and boring and i hated this!!! the last dnf wasn’t because i hated it, just because it didn’t match with what i wanted to read, but this, holy fuck it’s bad
the writing and vibe of this entire book is literally this ‘uuuuuuuuuugggggggghhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh’ so slow and grating and boring and i hated this!!! the last dnf wasn’t because i hated it, just because it didn’t match with what i wanted to read, but this, holy fuck it’s bad
Displaying 1 - 30 of 59 reviews