Published work is not your writer’s group. If you want to leave a bad review, there are places to do that. Thinking the author wants you to *contact them personally* to tell them you don’t like their work is both egotistical and incredibly rude.
Do you know where there’s this whole possibility that you could not enjoy something AND YET ALSO KEEP YOUR MOUTH SHUT?
Had a whole conversation yesterday about a growing discomfort with the aspect of fandom where there is a power dynamic between creator and fan as opposed to a choice to write and a choice to read where nobody owes anybody anything. It’s really creeping me out a bit.
I think of the price you pay for a book or film like the entrance fee to a museum. You are not paying *for* the art. You’re paying to get to SEE the art. Whether you LIKE the art does not factor in.