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Tuesday, January 5, 2016

HarperCollins investigation part 3....A Classic?

Maybe I was too hard on HarperCollins and the REAL publishing world in that last post.
Maybe I should have a look at another book...a classic, one that I like. Let's see what I can make of that?
I had to chose "Brave New World" by Aldous Huxley, my favourite writer. It has 1,906 reviews on Amazon. 21% of them are 3 stars or below...why? Let's find out...
Comments: There's a lot of problems about the formatting, and also a lot of people who don't realise that back in the 1930s, writers wrote in a certain style that is not acceptable in this day's market.
To really appreciate this book, you need to understand that. Who has read "Gulliver's Travels"? Then you know what I mean...
So, I'm not convinced yet...let's have a look at Huxley's debut, a wonderful book called "Crome Yellow". I was transfixed when I read it, not because it was a fantastic story but the way it flowed and written so smoothly...it has only 56 reviews, 41% are 3 stars or below...oh wow! Let's see why...
Comments:Some had trouble with formatting again, the book or audio or whatever. Others again didn't realise it was a satire on aristocracy and their lifestyle, which slows things down and is kinda pretentious. Another example of people not knowing what they have in their hands. It's not a 2015 Bestseller with a formulaic plot and seen-before characters.

So, maybe I was being a little hard on HarperCollins...nah!...maybe they have helped to DE-EDUCATE the reader... for want of creating a word. Publishers like HarperCollins have helped to bring down the READER IQ over this past half-century. For sure.

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