Literary Roast 2024: The Year’s Most Brutal Book Reviews
Dive into Literary Hub’s roundup of The Most Scathing Book Reviews of 2024, featuring biting critiques of Melania Trump, Haruki Murakami, and Malcolm Gladwell.
If you thrive on the sharp edge of criticism, Literary Hub’s compilation of The Most Scathing Book Reviews of 2024 is a feast for your literary appetite. Compiled by Book Marks, this annual roundup dishes out blistering critiques of 2024’s most polarizing releases, from political memoirs to long-awaited fiction by household names.
“He has chosen to be a farm stand that serves salty, fatty, sugary pseudo-thinking.” – Anand Giridharadas on Malcolm Gladwell.
Key Takeaways: A Year of Critical Roastings
Among the works savaged:
- Melania Trump’s memoir, Melania, which Naomi Fry (The New Yorker) dismissed as “one of the flattest, most abstract, and least revealing accounts of a life.”
- Haruki Murakami’s The City and Its Uncertain Walls, called “bad magical realism” by Alex Preston (The Observer), who lamented its lack of plot and “endless central section set in a library.”
- Lionel Shriver’s Mania, critiqued for its “ham-fisted satire” and smug tone by Laura Miller (The New York Times Book Review).
- Malcolm Gladwell’s Revenge of the Tipping Point, dismissed as “salty, fatty, sugary pseudo-thinking” by Anand Giridharadas (The New York Times Book Review).
These reviews don't just critique the books; they dissect broader cultural issues, from the limits of genre to the pitfalls of self-branding.
The Most Scathing Book Reviews of 2024
Ho, ho, ho, hope you’ve brought an appetite for destruction, because we’ve got some choice cuts for you this holiday season. Among the books being tarred and feathered in the town squar…
Book Marks
