Blurbs

One of these is a blurb on Marilynne Robinson's _Gilead_:

the exquisite tone of this mesmerising novel is remarkable
the exquisite tone of this remarkable novel is mesmerising
the remarkable tone of this exquisite novel is mesmerising
the remarkable tone of this mesmerising novel is exquisite
the mesmerising tone of this remarkable novel is exquisite
the mesmerising tone of this exquisite novel is remarkable

(it also has "A visionary work of dazzling originality")

i vote b)

I'm going with a) it just has the correct blurblike 'feel' to me, distributing the adjectives to their respective nouns with the greatest conventionality

agreed. f) as a second choice

I think f).

'AS SATISFYING, VIOLENT AND MORALLY AMBIVALENT AS ITS PREDECESSORS' -- Telegraph

Meaningless Book Jacket Praise

A friend and I always used to quote the blurb on King, Queen, Knave (from Nabokov himself): "Of all my novels this bright brute is the gayest."

tbf i think that telegraph blurb very much has meaning

i mean it's not like 'a searing indictment of modern mores from one of our most thoughtful writers' and then it's just rupert distractedly banging galena

it's like, russian demigods ritually disembowling acquaintances because the fate of the universe demands it

so: otm blurb imo

https://pictures.abebooks.com/isbn/9780394741215-uk.jpg

The blurb Bob Dylan wrote for Steven Van Zandt’s new memoir is the “Murder Most Foul” of book blurbs. pic.twitter.com/IBsegCKP05

— Steven Hyden (@Steven_Hyden) October 7, 2021

Bob Dylan didn’t rest on his laurels after winning the Nobel; coming up w/ a classic blurb for Stevie Van Zandt.

Searing and profound, suffused with beauty, sorrow, and longing, these stories map, with _______'s signature emotional wisdom, the collision of two cultures and the deeply human struggle to reconcile them.

too bad there's nothing to limn

My favorite blurbs are the ones where it's obvious that the book's publishers have done on a Frankenstein job on a book review - using ellipses to stitch together an enthusiastic-sounding blurb from a lukewarm review. Like "Joe Schmo's new novel...shows promise...with interesting characters...and an engaging plot", where it's obvious they've left out all the caveats and deprecating qualifiers.

My brother and I used to make a game of it. "This movie is . . . one of the best . . . of the year"

So many possibilities.

keep seeing a twitter ad touting that a certain show is 'the best in months'

tbh i respect the humility

"It's the best thing I've seen in the past 12 hours"

I get annoyed/amused when the back page blurb is taken from a review of one of the author's old books ("Tom Clancy is a master!") rather than the book it's printed on.

I get annoyed/amused when the back page blurb is taken from a review of one of the author's old books ("Tom Clancy is a master!") rather than the book it's printed on.

damn, didn't know the story of the word 'blurb' and the sexism therein

https://www.merriam-webster.com/words-at-play/word-history-blurb-publishing

China Mieville on klein’s doppelganger: “as thrilling as a novel”

Only the most recent eg of this v bad cliche

That reminds me of (and is equally as annoying as) "transcends the genre"

Also IME "thrilling" and "hilarious" blurbs are always perfect guarantors of un-thrilling and non-hilarity.

One of the oddest I’ve seen recently:

Today in 'weird' and possibly 'badly' 'translated' blurbs. pic.twitter.com/n2uLmbjD7Y

— Caustic Cover Critic (@Unwise_Trousers) March 19, 2024