Author Nick Mattiske writes that he has published a book of reviews in Australia, and in the introduction he draws inspiration from John Updike to “make a few rambling points about reviewing. The introduction also includes a caricature of Updike,” he says, and he “reproduced part of this introduction and the caricature as the first post on my blog,” which can be found here:
“On Ronald Blythe’s almost-most-recent book”
Before he gets into his own book, Mr. Mattiske evaluates another: “As John Updike has noted,” he begins, “Blythe’s work has a particularity about it regarding place that sometimes requires from the reader a measure of understanding of local village and parish life with which Blythe is saturated.”
When he gets to his own volume he cites an Updike quotation: “The communication between reviewer and his public is based upon the presumption of certain possible joys of reading, and all our discrimination should curve toward that end.”
Mattiske concludes, “The best reviews open doors to rooms never previously noticed that enrich the reader’s or listener’s experience. There is sometimes a great need for negativity, if that means the critique of sloppy thinking rather than merely the reviewer’s personal distaste, but Updike is right: when one has the pleasure of being immersed in books and music, some measure of enthusiasm should spark off onto the reader.”
