Rate this book

Snark: A Polemic In Seven Fits (It's Mean, It's Personal, And It's Ruining Our Conversation) (2009)

by David Denby(Favorite Author)

2.72 of 5 Votes: 5

ISBN

1416599452 (ISBN13: 9781416599456)

languge

English

genre

Humor

publisher

Simon & Schuster

review 1: I really hated this book more than I thought I could. For the first three fourths of the book, it was a straight forward book, where Denby goes through the history of what he defined as snark, some of it was interesting. I was curious with some of the things he defined as snark and things he defined as sarcasm, but then near then, I understood what it was all about. All of this was his defining snark as a terrible thing so that he can show how horrible Maureen Down, ofthe New York TImes, is. He created his own definition to prove that Dowd is the worst practitioner of it, but he made the definition so of course she will fit it to a T. I felt that the whole purpose of the book was to attack her, that the rest was just preamble so he can have at her and prove that she deserv... moreed it. It felt like a personal attack, like they had a history together and this was his public demonstration of a personal distaste. I feel hoodwinked, I planned to reada book about the destruction of satire and discourse, not an attack from one New York based columnist to another. If the book, was titled, Maureen Dowd is a Useless Son of a Bitch, I would have respected it better. Horrible book, it has gotten to the point where I can't read his reviews in the New Yorker, because I feel I can't trust him as a writer. He is worse than snarky, just false
review 2: According to Denby, snark attacks individuals and is a teasing often anonymous insult that appeals to a knowing audience. It’s a slippery definition. Maybe snark is akin to pornography in that it’s hard to describe but you know it when you encounter it. Denby gives lots of entertaining examples from Stephen Colbert (who is ironic but not snarky) to Maureen Dowd, the undisputed snark queen. I also enjoyed the backward view into snark history (those Roman poets!). less

Download links for: Snark: A Polemic in Seven Fits (It's Mean, It's Personal, and It's Ruining Our Conversation)

Advertising