http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/ni/2009/07/caleb_crain_v_alain_de_botton.html en-gb 30 Sat 26 Dec 2009 12:20:50 GMT+1 A feed of user comments from the page found at http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/ni/2009/07/caleb_crain_v_alain_de_botton.html http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/ni/2009/07/caleb_crain_v_alain_de_botton.html?page=18#comment9 Helio - have to say - loving your work at the mo lol.'Oh-look-at-me-Im-so-precious-and-sassy'- love it :-) Fri 10 Jul 2009 11:41:10 GMT+1 http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/ni/2009/07/caleb_crain_v_alain_de_botton.html?page=16#comment8 Prince Edwards 'hissy fit' 1987 w.r.t the media's response to his question "well what did you think?" of his celebrity/Royal 'it's a knokout' show. Unfortunately greeted in similiar way to this gentleman's New York journalistic book review. As De Boton is an author of relativeley comparible parental financial security one does wonder is there a common denominator in the 'hissy fit' response of journalistic criticism? Tue 07 Jul 2009 22:54:34 GMT+1 http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/ni/2009/07/caleb_crain_v_alain_de_botton.html?page=14#comment7 Mark, I guess I like people who just say what they want to, rather than BS and sugarcoat and nicey-nice. True feelings are sometimes hard to find. Christian Bale wouldn't have wanted us to see his. de Button clearly didn't want us to see his either. But, AHHH, isn't the world a better place when we do. Mon 06 Jul 2009 15:51:31 GMT+1 http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/ni/2009/07/caleb_crain_v_alain_de_botton.html?page=12#comment6 Markie, I thought all you fatties in New York ate Twinkies or Burritos (whatever they are) or bagels with oh-look-at-me-I'm-so-precious-and-sassy personalised combinations of gherkins and cheese and dead goat and raspberry jam and baloney (again, whatever that is) for breakfast, washed down with cwawffee. Now you're telling me that it's *bald novelists*?My illusions of the Big Apple have been shattered.;-)-H Mon 06 Jul 2009 15:25:51 GMT+1 http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/ni/2009/07/caleb_crain_v_alain_de_botton.html?page=10#comment5 JW;On another site, I was thinking about President Nixon and this little diatribe of Botton's reminded me of Nixon's resignation speech. It wouldn't occur to me to characterize it with the word "honesty" although like Nixon's speech I'm sure it was heartfelt. I'm more inclined to characterize it as "pathetic." Someone representing "the intellectual establishment" slammed his effort as sophomoric. Must be hard to take. If he were a true Irishman, he'd go off to some pub and drown his sorrow in more than a few pints and a few games of darts, probably imagining Caleb's face on the bullseye. What did he think he'd written, Angela's Ashes II? Mon 06 Jul 2009 15:05:37 GMT+1 http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/ni/2009/07/caleb_crain_v_alain_de_botton.html?page=8#comment4 This is the natural reaction to a bad review, and it's the approximate reaction that every bad review is met with. The difference here is that it was public! For once in society, we have honesty. Isn't that a beautiful thing? Mon 06 Jul 2009 14:31:56 GMT+1 http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/ni/2009/07/caleb_crain_v_alain_de_botton.html?page=6#comment3 This post has been Removed Mon 06 Jul 2009 09:26:18 GMT+1 http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/ni/2009/07/caleb_crain_v_alain_de_botton.html?page=4#comment2 There's an old saying here that nobody ever went broke underestimating the intelligence of the American public but frankly, I'd be surprised if this book sold many copies here with or without Caleb's review. Right now the only thing most Americans are interested in when it comes to the value of work is the bottom line on their pay stubs.BTW, not having read the book and never having intended to, I'd hazard a guess that Caleb's arrow hit the bullseye right through the author's heart. Sounds like a very insipid subject that's been worked to death more times by more people than anyone can count. So even if it had been well written.... Botton reminds me of a small towner who thought he'd make it big in the big city. In New York City they eat people like him every day BEFORE breakfast. Mon 06 Jul 2009 04:47:44 GMT+1 http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/ni/2009/07/caleb_crain_v_alain_de_botton.html?page=2#comment1 Surely for a writer the art of creating is enough - you write because you have to or need to or want to?Is his response protective (his writing is his creation) or is he driven by financial gain, or is it vanity? Or a combination of all the above? Do all reviewers have the same attitude / reaction to their creation? Does any thinking being buy a book based purely on a review ? Surely not! Sun 05 Jul 2009 20:51:27 GMT+1 http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/ni/2009/07/caleb_crain_v_alain_de_botton.html?page=0#comment0 William, you do Caleb Crain a grave disservice by comparing him with Eagleton, whose review of "The God Delusion" was the product of a very very confused person, well out of their intellectual depth, even with a book written explicitly for the layman.I'm not exactly a fan of de Botton (OK, it has been ages since I've read any of his stuff), but face it, his response has upped his publicity, and is likely to do his sales in the USA no harm at all. Indeed, I might now pull his stuff back off the dusty shelves precisely for this. Nor will it harm Crain. A classic win-win, do you not think? Sun 05 Jul 2009 13:40:47 GMT+1