About book Snark: A Polemic In Seven Fits (It's Mean, It's Personal, And It's Ruining Our Conversation) (2009)
I didn't enjoy the snarkiness of the work or the narration of the audio, and gave it 2 stars only because I learned a bit about various perpetrators of satire and snark and so-called humor. The narration was particularly hard to appreciate after the first few tracks and I just gave up on the 3rd out of 4 CDs. For a book purporting to decry what snark has done to our society, the entire thing was entirely too *cute* and yes, snarky. Denby is basically right on the idea that snark, which is a form of rudeness that rivals sarcasm as wit's poorest cousin, has gotten beyond the reasonable application. Where once a snide remark might have been an expression of the vitality of Democratic expression with tyrannical bounds has now become the entire discourse in much too much of the new media. Internet wise, it is often difficult or impossible to have serious exchange (or not so serious) on what concerns or interests you on the forums and in the blogosphere--movies, politics, music, economics--without the topic being trampled to death in the herd instinct to stampede an opposing view with bile.
Do You like book Snark: A Polemic In Seven Fits (It's Mean, It's Personal, And It's Ruining Our Conversation) (2009)?
As stilted and unsurprising as one of his film reviews, but less concise.
—lheyra
Entertaining read. Some very good points on modern manners brought up.
—irvkapla
He's probably right, but I'm not sure what there is to do about it.
—mimi
