Bad Reviews

Amber Share Sometimes I think about some of the bad reviews I’ve gotten on Amazon, and wonder why people picked up the book in the first place. My fave may always be “Well, it’s not Shakespeare” (when did I say, “Buy this book, it’s Elizabethan drama”?) but there will be a new you’ve-got-to-be-kidding-me comment along at any moment. That’s why I love Amber Share’s bad-reviews-of-national-parks posters, all taken from actual reviews of parks and which all sound like something Trump would have said.

And it got me to thinking about the isolation/quarantine and the virus in general, wondering what would happen if people reviewed that. Or if they reviewed the campaigns and the election. (My fave election sticker of all time is “Cthulhu for President: Why vote for the lesser evil?” although the one still on my car that will be there until the end of time is “Choose Love: Dogs Against Romney.” I know how to hold a grudge.). Of course the classic bad review is “The food is awful and the portions are too small.”

But I think the artist, Amber Share, said the smartest thing about bad reviews: “If a national park—which is beautiful and incredible and inarguably amazing—is going to have one-star reviews, you also have no chance of pleasing everyone. It’s like—learning to laugh and have a lighthearted mindset about our critics, including the ones in our own heads, who are often the meanest.”

So . . .

Welcome to Temptation: “Would be better with a hunky Indian.”*

Faking It: “This book is irresponsible because she’s too old to have kids. Heroines should be younger.”*

Bet Me: “Where’s the dog?”*

What’s your favorite bad review (as in the review itself is bad)?

In other distractions, last night I went back and read all those Obama-Biden memes. That was a lovely time. Can we please have the Obamas back?

*All actual comments from letters I have received.

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