About a year ago one of my co-workers, Eric, wrote and published a book. He gave a signed copy to me and another co-worker, Craig.
The book is so bad it’s unreadable. I’ve tried and tried but I can barely get past the first page. Craig also finds it unreadable although he’s been able to get through a couple of chapters. Craig eventually lost his book and I told him that he could have my copy if he read it and then he could tell me what happens so I’d be able to say “good job” or something to Eric.
Craig can’t manage to read it either - it’s just so bad.
Every time I see Eric, I feel guilty because I’ve never said anything about his book. Should I just never say anything? I love reading and I go through a couple of books a month but I simply am not able to read this book.
Read enough of it to know the genre, and maybe the basic plot.
If you are ever asked about the book, just say,“well, I’ve never read much of that genre,so it was all a new and interesting experience for me. Totally different than the stuff I usually read.”
Then shut up, before you make it worse for yourself.
If it got the point he self published it IMO he’s not really looking for any constructive criticism. If he wanted that he would have asked before he published.
Just make evasive polite and nice, anything else will likely not be appreciated.
In addition to the "I don’t usually read that genre … " comment, IMO it can’t hurt to add “It’s very hard to get a book to completion and publication, isn’t it?” Then smile and nod while he talks about his travails getting his work to print. If he goes on for too long, say “Oops! I need to get back to work.”
One of the nicest bosses I’ve had once loaned me a book I could not remember having read. After a couple of pages I realized that I actually had read part of it years before in English and found it a pretentious piece of shit. It’s a pretentious piece of shit in Spanish, too.
When I returned it to him and he asked whether I had liked it, I responded “it’s not quite my style, sorry.”
I’d just tell the truth, but I have no tolerance for crappy writers, especially now it’s easier than ever to pollute ebook stores with your unedited “masterpiece”. Or worse, “self publish” and maybe trick someone into buying your ego-masturbating crap thinking it’s a real book.
You might not want to do that if you actually like the guy, though.
Honestly, if “it’s not quite my style” upset an author, they have no business writing. Not everything appeals to everyone, and after all, you don’t read much in that genre, so it wouldn’t be your style before you even knew it was bad.
Feel like sharing some particularly awful examples of his writing?
Well, my friends are my friends in part because they appreciate hearing the truth, however negative, so yes, I’d tell them the truth. However, note that everything after “I’d just tell the truth” is privately the reason I’m so intolerant of bad writing, and not necessarily something I was suggesting OP say to their co-worker.
Don’t lie, don’t tell the truth and say something encouraging. So some shit like, “Hey Eric, I’m finally done with your book. It’s a genre I wouldn’t even try to read if I didn’t know the author. Maybe I’ll be quicker with your next one, particularly if it’s porn. You must be very proud getting that first one published.”
If you can turn the conversation around and get him talking about how he came to write it, how long he was kicking the idea around before he got it underway, the process of finding a publisher and getting it published, what he’d written prior and what he hopes to write in the future, what he reads and what inspires him and that sort of thing, you could probably have a whole long conversation without ever needing to express an opinion about the book.