Pardon me if this has been a topic before, but what is the general feeling about this book? I read it years ago and thought it was insensitive and recently read it again and felt it was actually purposely cruel, as if he had some axe to grind. I am wondering if anyone has any insider info on Collins motivation. Thanks, Linda

I read it about a year ago and felt that he didn't really appreciate (sic) Gordon or his body of work. Who knows!!

I agree -- the author was definitely being the "superior" critic-type...lots of interesting information though.

The author came across as being egotistical, pompous jerk. Has some good information but a lot of the stuff is misleading as far as I am concerned.

yes, "misleading" is a good word really- like the way he will not directly quote someone like Cathy Smith, or allude to her book as a source but paraphrase her statements from her book as facts. He seems to want to present information he gets secondhand as his own personal information. Also, once he understands that Lightfoot is upset with the way he is portrayed in the 1977 MaClean's article-he refers at length from that particular source as well as admonishes in a spiteful way to Lightfoot: "Forget not, lest you be condemned to repeat your mistakes", as if the info in the article were truth ( amongst other things the implication that Lightfoot does charity work to further his career). Leave it to a mean spirited author to quote a mean spirited article writer. Linda


quote:Originally posted by TheWatchman:
The author came across as being egotistical, pompous jerk. Has some good information but a lot of the stuff is misleading as far as I am concerned.