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Wednesday’s Work-in-Progress: Negative Reviews on the Brain

by Erika Dreifus on
7

Thumbs_down_smiley2On my mind lately: negative reviews.

The topic came up during my recent visit to the Whidbey Writers Workshop MFA program, not just within the book-reviewing discussions I had with students, but also in a presentation by another faculty member, who told us that he was fired from one of his freelancing gigs (as a food critic) after negatively reviewing a restaurant whose ad dollars helped fund the publication he was writing for.

It came up again when I returned home and discovered a new, negative (two-star) review of Quiet Americans on Goodreads (go ahead and look for it if you want to). I didn’t mind quite so much the disdainful adjectives the reviewer applied to my writing style–everyone’s entitled to an opinion–but I was bothered (and stunned, really) by one other judgment about its substance. If I were to engage with the reviewer (which I won’t; we all know authors should NOT follow that understandable impulse), I would ask for some specifics. That’s one thing about negative reviews–it’s especially frustrating when the reviewers don’t provide details, examples, or other evidence to support their arguments. It’s not all that dissimilar from getting a negative workshop critique that offers painfully little (if anything) to help you understand what, exactly, the critiquer objects to.

And then, last week, I read a negative review that seemed exemplary: sensitive, thoughtful, detailed, and evidenced. Read it here, and be sure to read through to the end, which offers some powerful closing lines (yes, I’m always reading as a writer!).

Meantime, just this past Monday, David Abrams’s always-interesting Quivering Pen blog presented, as part of its “My First Time” series, a guest post by Doreen McGettigan on her first bad review. Which brought back memories of my own similarly-themed “My First Punch-in-the-Gut Review” for the same feature.

So, yes, I have negative reviews on the brain. Any thoughts on the subject or relevant links you care to share?

From My Archives: Defining “Jewish Writing”

by Erika Dreifus on
5

StarSome of my (ever-evolving) ruminations on how to define what makes a book “Jewish” stem from my own writing, especially my short-story collection, Quiet Americans, which is inspired largely by the experiences of my paternal grandparents, German Jews who immigrated to the United States in the late 1930s. But I’ve also considered the subject more broadly (for some examples, please see “further reading” links at the end of this post).

Helping me shape my thoughts along the way: a website I discovered thanks to one of the innumerable “Jewish newsletters” I subscribe to. At The 5 Legged Table, educator Avraham Infeld’s teachings frame a discussion of the question: What is being Jewish all about? The underlying principles impress me as applicable to a related question: What is a Jewish book all about?

Briefly, the 5 Legged Table comprises the following elements: (more…)

From My Bookshelf: Biography of the Heroic Herman Stern

by Erika Dreifus on
Disabled

ShoptaughAs mentioned on my other blog (Practicing Writing), I recently had the opportunity to speak about Quiet Americans with a group of readers at New York’s Museum of Jewish Heritage. Following our meeting, we toured the museum’s new exhibit, “Against the Odds: American Jews and the Rescue of Europe’s Refugees, 1933-1941.”

I found the exhibit fascinating and returned another day to explore it more carefully. I also took notes. I was particularly captivated by the exhibit’s introduction to Herman Stern, a German-born Jew who immigrated to the U.S. in 1903. He was 16 at the time. Subsequently, Stern became a successful businessman in North Dakota. And from North Dakota, he managed to help more than 100 Jews escape from Nazi Europe.

I wanted to know more details than the exhibit provided, so I put my research skills to work. Soon enough, I located a biography of Stern in a local college library: Terry Shoptaugh’s “You Have Been Kind Enough to Assist Me”: Herman Stern and the Jewish Refugee Crisis, published in 2008 by the Institute for Regional Studies at North Dakota State University. (more…)

Wednesday’s Work-in-Progress: A Visit to the Museum of Jewish Heritage

by Erika Dreifus on
3

ato_down_01This evening will be special: I will be meeting with the Young Friends group at the Museum of Jewish Heritage downtown to talk about my story collection, Quiet Americans. The icing on the cake is that after our discussion, we’ll be able to tour the museum’s new exhibit, “Against the Odds: American Jews and the Rescue of Europe’s Refugees, 1933-1941.”

The exhibit opened last week, and it has already received some excellent press coverage. (See, for example, The Wall Street Journal and this Associated Press item in The Huffington Post.)

Most of you who visit this blog regularly know that my paternal grandparents, whose experiences inspired much of Quiet Americans, were German Jews who found refuge in the United States in the late 1930s. So I’m sure you can understand why I’m especially moved to have the opportunity to share the book and see the exhibit on the same evening. And why I think that it’s something very special.

Jewish Literary Links for Shabbat

by Erika Dreifus on
Disabled

Photo Credit: Reut Miryam Cohen

Every Friday morning My Machberet presents an assortment of links, primarily of the literary variety.

  • The May Jewish Book Carnival is now online. Check out the recommended links for lots of recent news, reviews, and interviews.
  • Rabbi Rachel Barenblat offers reflections on motherhood and context for her new book of poems over on ZEEK.
  • Q&A with Rutu Modan, whose forthcoming graphic novel, The Property, is on my TBR list.
  • The Whole Megillah presents a Q&A with author Lesléa Newman.
  • Last, but maybe not least: I’m offering a free, signed copy of Quiet Americans to the winner of this Short Story Month Giveaway.

    • Shabbat shalom!