Jared Kusher’s new book is of no value to anyone. Here’s why we decided to review it.
— New York Times Pitchbot (@DougJBalloon) August 17, 2022
Dwight Garner’s review is getting a lot of praise which I can only put down to the NYT halo effect. There are no real insights here and the wit is mainly Maureen Dowd style pop culture jokes (“With or without you, Bono.”). This is not the second coming of Dorothy Parker.
It does, however, raise the question how do you review something completely without interest or value without, in a sense, dignifying it with your response? This video by Bob Chipman is probably the best approach to the problem I’ve seen. The most notable part starts at 2:47 but you should take a few minutes and watch the whole thing.