Our interview series Thick Skin analyzes negative feedback from the author's perspective.
Episode XXXII
“My novel has the lowest rating on Goodreads that I've literally ever seen” with Harris Lahti
Episode XXXI
Tepid fluid with Andrew Lipstein
Episode XXX
“Goodreads: Where Homophobes Teach You How to Dog Whistle” with Kyle Dillon Hertz
Episode XXIX
“Technically correct, I guess!” with Monica Heisey
Episode XXVIII
“All this vitriol over something not satisfying your desires” with Ray Nayler
Episode XXVII
“If he resents the hype, so do I” with Deepti Kapoor
Episode XXVI
“I rush the pain, in a way, I crave the sting” with Claudia Durastanti.
Episode XXV
“So vitriolic and pedantic that it gave me the creeps” with Mark Prins.
Episode XXIV
“A very empty take on the novel” with James Han Mattson.
Episode XXIII
“I was excitedly screenshotting until I got to the final few paragraphs when I was like ah. Delete, delete, delete.” with Virginia Feito.
Episode XXII
“This does strike a nerve, because it was something I was worried about” with Emily Temple.
Episode XXI
“I'm of no illusion that my writing is for everybody, even those who do show up and try” with Blake Butler.
Episode XX
“More or less exactly the review I was afraid the book would get” with Miranda Popkey.
Episode XIX
"I don't necessarily love that girl either" with Stephanie LaCava.
Episode XVIII
"An elephant, however good, is not a good warthog" with Sigrid Nunez.
Episode XVII
"Most people who hate my book hate it for some combination of three reasons" with Tony Tulathimutte.
Episode XVI
"Personal failing? Moral ineptitude? Limited exposure to art?" with Hannah Pittard.
Episode XIV
"You're freaking me out now" with Joe McGinniss Jr.
Episode XII
"Art can no longer successfully be the mirror it once was" with Thomas Christopher Greene.
Episode XI
"NO ONE separates the art from the artist anymore. It's like, a lost art." with Chloe Caldwell.
Episode X
"We need a pain scale like the one in the ER" with Rebecca Makkai.
Episode IX
"The worst things critics have ever said about my work pale in comparison to the worst things I've said to myself" with Laura van den Berg.
Episode VIII
"Some have called it the worst review of all time" with Porochista Khakpour.
Episode VII
"My whole world cracked open and the potential for what my life could be completely shifted" with Catie Disabato.
Episode VI
The Two Darts with Clancy Martin.
Episode V
"This is...like the thing they did in Communist China where people had to get up and 'self-criticize'" with Emily Gould.
Episode III
"Part of being a writer is just accepting the risk that you aren't any good and you can't see it" with Mike Meginnis.
Episode II
"I'm actually shocked by that comment!" with Michelle Gable.
