Report Card Time

“Johnson brings a storyteller’s sensibility into play, and he makes excellent use of sources and testimonials.”—Kirkus Reviews

"Johnson (Hunting in Harlem, 2003) brings a critical eye and a lively narrative to retelling a fascinating chapter in American history." —Library Journal

"Fans of historical fiction or readers interested in the impact of slavery on African-American identity today will enjoy Johnson's daring reconstruction."—Publisher's Weekly

The reviews are in for The Great Negro Plot, and they're not too bad. Actually, they're pretty good. I've been fortunate this time, as in the past, that the reviews I've received have been primarily positive. And the ones that have been less generous have always had a positive line or two to at least make my publicist happy.

When my first novel came out, Drop, I waited anxiously for every review, and went into an internal fury every time I felt I received an unjustly negative one. Every once in a while I received negative criticism that I felt was a valid critique of what I had actually done (or failed to do), and that I didn't mind so much. How could I, they were right. It was the ones that were negative and clueless, or sometimes racist, that infuriated me. Still, the vast majority of the criticism I received was positive, and of course most I forgot instantly. It was the negative criticism that stuck with me. Some of those rips I can still quote today, sadly.

Realizing that I ignored all of the positive things critics said about my work and obsessed about the negative things, with my second novel, Hunting in Harlem, I swore to look at none of the reviews, telling my agent, editor, and publicist to not send them to me. Despite this, they couldn't resist telling me when each one was good or bad. And my family and friends would email reviews to me despite my protests. So it was useless.

Now though, the reviews have lost their power over me. Not because I'm a better person, but because I've learned more. I used to think that, like in a writing workshop, my reviews would help me become a better writer, but none ever has and that's not what they are there for. I used to think that reviews were the definitive opinions of experts, but nowadays many are just the rushed judgements of graduate students making $40 a pop . Worst of all, I used to think that a negative review could effectively kill my book. Now I realize that's just silly. Book reviews don't ultimately make or break books. Readers do.

(...and advertising budgets, and publishing sales teams, and invested publishers, and publicists with pull, and chain bookstore buyers, and independent store owners, and award judges, and the New York Times, and Oprah, and Newsweek, and Charlie Rose, and Time, and Terri Gross, and Essence, and you might as well just give up and let it take care of itself.)