That Janet Maslin Doesn't Like Joshua Ferris' New Book Doesn't Mean Anything

Janet Maslin pans Joshua Ferris’ new novel The Unnamed in the Times today, citing “authorial overkill” and “writerly preciousness” as reasons. She lost authority on the subject, however, in her very first sentence, when she dismissed Ferris’ first book, Then We Came To the End, as “charming but weightless.” That makes me think she may not have read Then We Came To the End very closely. Or at least not closely enough in the beautiful and powerful central chapter, where we follow a lonely, career-minded advertising executive facing a diagnosis of breast cancer with the support of her commitment-averse boyfriend-who breaks up with her a few days before surgery.

“I’m just being honest here. I am totally committed to seeing you through this. But as a friend,” he said. “Only as a friend.”

Weightless? Jesus, how strong is Janet Maslin? Is she having The Hulk write reviews for her? If so, The Hulk exhibits his own authorial overkill and writerly preciousness, overexerting to work in unnecessary wordplay: “The Unnamed is a literal Ferris wheel for the reader, since it brings Tim through ups and downs so cyclical they make the book seem to be going nowhere.”

That no sound like Hulk.