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Title: GOOD IDEA, HORRIBLE EXECUTION
Review: There's very little wrong with the idea behind this book -- questioning the canon is a valid exercise and one that's been going on in music, literature, painting, sculpture, etc. since the dawn of time. The problem with this book is that (barring a couple of exceptions) the writing is so damn bad, it obscures the point. If you're going to say you hate something, you'd better give some insightful, defensible statements to that end, and there is precious little of that here. It's like you learn in your first college writing course: you can start from any thesis statement you want, but if you base your paper on poor logic, cliches, and general banality, you not only fail in the exercise but are certain to lose the reader a few paragraphs in. Which is what nearly all of these essays do. Sorry.
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