A post by Travis Deputy occasioned by Harriet Klausner's review of the book Dead Man's Song:
HA! HA! HA! SHE'S FULL OF CRAP, TOO, JUST LIKE MR. POMERVILLE IS, EVEN THOUGH SHE GAVE MABERRY'S BOOK 5 STARS. SHE DOES THAT WITH JUST ABOUT EVERYONE(HINT:SHE DOESN'T READ THE BOOKS). TALK ABOUT 2 LOPSIDED REVEIWS. NEITHER OF THEM READ THE BOOK, BUT ONE GAVE THE WORST RATING AND THE OTHER GAVE THE BEST. CRAZINESS x 10 = INSANITY!!!!!! COME ON PEOPLE!!!!!! LET'S BE HONEST AND ACTUALLY READ THE BOOKS AND GIVE A FACTUAL OPINION OF WHAT THE BOOK IS ABOUT AND IT'S STRENGTHS AND WEAKNESSES AND NOT OUR BIASED OPINIONS OR ANY MADE UP BULL JUNK. HINT: DON'T WRITE A REVIEW USING THE BACK COVER SYNOPSIS. BOTH OF YOU ARE SO FIRED YOU'RE REHIRED FOR DOING THIS! COME ON NOW PEEPS! READING ISN'T DIFFUCULT TO DO! LEFT TO RIGHT, TOP TO BOTTOM, GROUP OF WORDS ARRANGED IN PROPER SYNTAX MAKE A SENTENCE, GROUP OF SENTENCES MAKE A PARAGRAPH, BUNCH OF PARAGRAPHS MAKE A CHAPTER, BUNCH OF CHAPTERS MAKE A BOOK. AMAZING, YES I KNOW! CONFOUNDING THAT TOO! AND WHO KNOWS YOU MIGHT ACTUALLY ENJOY AND LEARN SOMETHING. REMEMBER, READ THE BOOKS, THEN RIGHT A REVIEW THAT ISN'T BIASED OR BASED ON A BACK COVER SYNOPSIS. IN OTHER WORDS, BE HONEST!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I couldn't put it better. Travis, we like you. :-)
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9 comments:
Sweet and to the point, huh? He said that very well.
He's my hero! :)
This comment with its admonition to reviewers to be honest brings to mind what has long been to me the most troubling aspect of Harriet Klausner's reviews, their dishonesty.
I used to think that her lying was due to her narcissism, that her longing to be the center of attention was what led her to lie about having read books that she had not.
But now I've come to think it's a form of greed. She's greedy to be number one, greedy to receive box after box of free books (none of which there has ever been any evidence that she has donated to charity). In Hinduism greed is believed to be the foundation of all sin. The epic Mahabharata has a line that reads, " This covetousness is the spring also of all the cunning and hypocrisy in the world. It is covetousness that makes man sin..." Thomas Aquinas says of greed "It is a sin directly against one's neighbor, since one man cannot over-abound in external riches, without another lacking these." And of course Buddhism teaches about the three poisons, greed, hatred (or ill-will), and delusion. The antidote for greed is giving. And Harriet Klausner has made more than one reference to the large numbers of books piling up around her house and has not answered requests to donate used books to members of the armed forces.
So, what about the moral and ethical questions raised by Harriet Klausner's reviews? Do you see it as a moral issue or do you see her as a harmless attention-seeker? Do you think lying about having read books is a minor issue or do you think this dishonesty is important and has some bearing on Amazon as a whole and their business ethics, or lack thereof?
I don't think she actually writes them: it's just too much, whatever the possible obsessiveness involved. 'HK' gotta be just a posting handle for many people writing jacket-copy-style 'reviews'. Maybe she does take part in this creative effort, but no more than that.
I think it is just HK writing these reviews. I think it was Barbara that found a picture of Harriet sitting in a room piled very high with books everywhere. I think she is an attention seeker. She must have been ignored as a child and when she found something that would get her noticed she ran with it. After viewing the picture I would have to guess she keeps all of them. It is a hobby to her.
I don't think this was a real photo (just like the picture on left here doesn't look like one).
Either she read the back of the book and the first few chapters, so there is a group of people, maybe 3 or 4 who are writing the review. People love free stuff, including ARCs and Galleries of books, so if I was Harriet of course I would want to be #1 because of all the free books I get.
I've had emails from people who say that they've met Harriet Klausner at Book Fairs. One man described her as being about five feet tall, heavy-set,and walking with the assistance of a cane. So there is a woman named Harriet Klausner, whether she writes all of the book reviews under her name is another question. But how hard could it be? We've established the fact that she doesn't read the books. How long could it possibly take to read the jackets and write the kind of crappy boilerplate reviews she is known for?
Oh, I believe there's a woman by that name. As to how hard it could be, well, what's posted today she could do of course -- there's been a noticeable slowdown during the last few months. But going half a year back and from there into the past, that kind of output seems way too much for a single person to have produced.
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