A critic critiqued
Slate.com has an interesting evaluation of longtime New York Times book critic Michiko Kakutani. What’s interesting about Ben Yagoda’s piece is that he avoids the vitriolic attacks levelled at Kakutani by such heavyweights as Susan Sontag and Normal Mailer — who referred to the Japanese-American critic as a “one-woman kamikaze” and a “token” minority hire — and focuses on what he sees as a rather plodding approach to her craft. “Kakutani doesn’t offer the stylistic flair, the wit, or the insight one gets from [Pauline] Kael and other first-rate critics,” Yagoda writes. “For her, the verdict is the only thing. One has the sense of her deciding roughly at Page 2 whether or not a book is worthy; reading the rest of it to gather evidence for her case; spending some quality time with the Thesaurus; and then taking a large blunt hammer and pounding the message home.”
Related links:
Read Ben Yagoda’s piece on Slate.com
