When it comes to trash talk, outspoken pop legend Morrissey can certainly dish it out, but when any form of criticism turns back on him he gets rather sensitive. Earlier this year, he released his debut novel List of the Lost to a resounding chorus of negative reviews, and now the singer has taken offence to the criticisms.
As the Guardian reports, Moz told a Chilean website that he was rather hurt by all the hate. "I strongly believe in freedom of expression and critics have to say what they have to say," he said. "But often the criticisms are an attack against me as a human being and have nothing to do with what they're reading."
"It wasn't written for you," he added, discussing the big meanies who reviewed it. "You cannot try to work out what you think the author should have written instead of what he actually wrote."
To briefly take Morrissey's side, it's worth noting that critics were particularly harsh on the book. Michael Hann of the Guardian called it "an unpolished turd of a book" and "the stale excrement of Morrissey's imagination." The Daily Beast called it "laughably clunky," while FACT called it "eye-wateringly bad."
In Morrissey's defence, there are a handful of positive reviews on Amazon. User Ivy says, "I loved this novel. It was so strange and idiosyncratic, so different from anything else I've ever read."
User R.S. Baskerville added, "I believe that once the critics have panned it, they all jump on the bandwagon so that it doesn't look like they have egg on their faces. Well I'll stand out as the lone wolf and say that I actually rather much liked it. I think if you went through with a high lighter you good could yellow the whole book up with great Morriseyisms!!"
Finally, Loulou added, "It's the authors' very own style, I can't see any attempts to imitate anybody else's style and I've really enjoyed each sentence. Although I'm not a native speaker I can't understand why some say it's unreadable."
As the Guardian reports, Moz told a Chilean website that he was rather hurt by all the hate. "I strongly believe in freedom of expression and critics have to say what they have to say," he said. "But often the criticisms are an attack against me as a human being and have nothing to do with what they're reading."
"It wasn't written for you," he added, discussing the big meanies who reviewed it. "You cannot try to work out what you think the author should have written instead of what he actually wrote."
To briefly take Morrissey's side, it's worth noting that critics were particularly harsh on the book. Michael Hann of the Guardian called it "an unpolished turd of a book" and "the stale excrement of Morrissey's imagination." The Daily Beast called it "laughably clunky," while FACT called it "eye-wateringly bad."
In Morrissey's defence, there are a handful of positive reviews on Amazon. User Ivy says, "I loved this novel. It was so strange and idiosyncratic, so different from anything else I've ever read."
User R.S. Baskerville added, "I believe that once the critics have panned it, they all jump on the bandwagon so that it doesn't look like they have egg on their faces. Well I'll stand out as the lone wolf and say that I actually rather much liked it. I think if you went through with a high lighter you good could yellow the whole book up with great Morriseyisms!!"
Finally, Loulou added, "It's the authors' very own style, I can't see any attempts to imitate anybody else's style and I've really enjoyed each sentence. Although I'm not a native speaker I can't understand why some say it's unreadable."