The Last Book Review

That’s it, we’re done, the form has peaked, no one should ever review another book, Nell Zink’s review of Jonathan Franzen’s Purity is the pinnacle of the form, I cannot even pick a single sentence or quote because I love every single part of this review.

These are just a few contenders for best sentence or quote:

“On average I hate all books. However, I love Purity.”

“In related news, Franzen invests serious money in conservation, doing good by saving wetlands instead of letting them get wrecked. If you make him richer by buying Purity, the money won’t go straight to some other rich guy — whoever sells him his next asset upgrade — it will go to farmers who lay off insecticides and let their fields get marshy! Or you can skip the middleman, wait for the paperback, and donate straight to the American Bird Conservancy. Your call.”

“Pip’s mother is a piece of work. Generally not helpful as a mom, but fun to read about, and very real if you remember 1980s artists and just how seriously they took everything. Nobody wanted to be shallow the way people do now, so they put all their shallowness in the art. Audiences would then stare silently for hours at black paintings and films of dripping taps. Now we all want to be airheads delighted and entertained by fun. I don’t mind. I like fun art.”

You just have to read the whole review on n+1 immediately.