I take criticism less personally, and I recognize that sometimes fate smiles on you and sometimes it doesn’t. Your feelings toward reviews must have evolved over the years, yes? But there’s no point in reading a dumb, negative review. I think of reviews being mapped on a graph with four quadrants, and I’ll read the ones that are smart and positive, smart and negative, or dumb and positive (hey, all our egos need a little sustenance!). I read more of the early ones and more of the ones from publications I respect. O.K., the obvious questions first: Do you read all your reviews? Here are edited excerpts from our email exchange. She’s also willing to take real risks in her writing - imagining the inner life of Laura Bush, reimagining a beloved classic - which means she’s made herself critically vulnerable in all sorts of ways. Now, as a person who writes reviews for a living, I am curious to know: How do professional authors handle unsparing criticism, written in just a few days or weeks, of something they’ve toiled over for years? I decided to ask Curtis Sittenfeld, author of “ Prep,” “ American Wife” and most recently, “ Eligible,” a modern retelling of “Pride and Prejudice.” In the last three years Curtis has become a friend, and she’s remarkably honest about such matters.
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