people -- "Little is known about her" is totally passive voice

find out!

I think shoes were also used as plot devices on SATC.

That said - the above photo of her is frightening enough.

@if_i_only_had_a_heart: Agreed! And I note that your call to arms goes nicely with your avatar.

@Bell County: why thank you very kindly

Time warp Gawker sighting from 20 years ago:

Saw Michiko Kakutani at a party for William Boyd (Hey, I thought she didn't go out?) hosted by his publisher. She seemed very pleasant and charming and small but not tiny. Why is everything so afraid of her?

And according to this rendering, her mother was from Easter Island.

Kakutani is the female version of Philip Levine.

I only wish she were meaner to the over-inflated gas bags that sometimes pass as writers. If she had called Franzen a "a zoo monkey masturbating for the audience" I would have been in total agreement.

I like the part when Stanford thinks she's an appetizer.

@CopyofBlueboy: phil levine chooses to work hardup minority students at community colleges because he knows what work is; also he's really sweet and has a lot of heart. i don't see the parallel.

Um, Maureen Dowd doesn't have any friends. They're not necessary.

She's the Roberta Smith of books!

Are you implying that Michiko is actually a computer programmed to write nasty book reviews?

@famousauthor:
No--but Krugman shits on a computer screen and it turns into a column.

@mitchel_stevens:
p.s. i would kill for that power.

but what has she said about john updike?

It appears as though the authors never address the substance of her reviews.

@debord at work: i just now realized that there's not more outrage about this comparison because you people are - collectively - charlatans. i say that in the best sense - picture it as coming from paul bowles... but come on!

@debord at work: As a former (white female) student of Levine's, I can safely say that he hates white female writers because he thinks we're wealthy. He isn't a sweet man, not at all. But that's for a PM.

I think the drawing and the post limn her perfectly.

@belltolls:

I've really, really disagreed with her about Updike, for example, but what makes her valuable is that she doesn't seem afraid of pissing off big-shot publishers, which is kind of rare nowadays.

From what I understand, she's pretty much a normal, smart person. But since I'm not a writer, I wouldn't necessarily perceive her as radiating an invisible forcefield of dread.

For the record, I had no problem with her when I worked in publishing. She was actually really supportive and helpful. She gave my books nice reviews.