Dealing With Bad Reviews

When your novel gets a negative review, "it's your entire being that is negated. And that hurts." But you have to learn to let it go.

Question: How do you deal with bad reviews? Yann
Martel:  It's hard.  Just today I got a bad review of my book in
the New York Times.  The day it comes out, I'm in New York, the Goddamn
New York Times gives me a terrible review.  It hurts.  But there's no
secret to it.  I imagine Shakespeare hated getting negative reviews, and
you know, there's always going to be somebody who doesn't like what you
do, always, no matter, you know, Tolstoy, Shakespeare, Dante, I'm sure
there are people who told them their stuff sucks.  It hurts.  You know,
you give everything to art, as I said, we are story animals, so when
your story is rejected, it hits you right here.  You know, if you're a
dentist, if you're an accountant, you can have bad days at work, it's
just your job, it's not who you are.  Art, just like religion, it's who
we are.  So when you get a bad review, it's your entire being that is
negated.  And that hurts.  Not that you do it for approval, you're not
pandering for approval.You don't do it for approval, you have to
let go.  But in people that you care for, you know, you want, you know,
you want to impress the people close to you.  You know, you don't want
to have written a novel and then your wife, your girlfriend, you
boyfriend, your parents, would have, then sort of have to sort of, you
know, lie.  You don't, you know, so, you know, art is profoundly social,
so you want at some level your gift to be accepted.  I say that, but at
the same time, it is a free gift, you have to let go.  You have to have
that Buddhist attitude of passionate detachment.  Which I generally
had, and I just got that review today, so that kind of sucks, but you
have to let go.Recorded April 13, 2010

Question: How do you deal with bad reviews? Yann
Martel:  It's hard.  Just today I got a bad review of my book in
the New York Times.  The day it comes out, I'm in New York, the Goddamn
New York Times gives me a terrible review.  It hurts.  But there's no
secret to it.  I imagine Shakespeare hated getting negative reviews, and
you know, there's always going to be somebody who doesn't like what you
do, always, no matter, you know, Tolstoy, Shakespeare, Dante, I'm sure
there are people who told them their stuff sucks.  It hurts.  You know,
you give everything to art, as I said, we are story animals, so when
your story is rejected, it hits you right here.  You know, if you're a
dentist, if you're an accountant, you can have bad days at work, it's
just your job, it's not who you are.  Art, just like religion, it's who
we are.  So when you get a bad review, it's your entire being that is
negated.  And that hurts.  Not that you do it for approval, you're not
pandering for approval.You don't do it for approval, you have to
let go.  But in people that you care for, you know, you want, you know,
you want to impress the people close to you.  You know, you don't want
to have written a novel and then your wife, your girlfriend, you
boyfriend, your parents, would have, then sort of have to sort of, you
know, lie.  You don't, you know, so, you know, art is profoundly social,
so you want at some level your gift to be accepted.  I say that, but at
the same time, it is a free gift, you have to let go.  You have to have
that Buddhist attitude of passionate detachment.  Which I generally
had, and I just got that review today, so that kind of sucks, but you
have to let go.Recorded April 13, 2010