One star reviews

I decided to try out a little experiment suggested by Jeanette Demain in this Salon article. The method: search your favourite books on Amazon, read the 'one star' reviews. See if you can't avoid coming away "profoundly disheartened and pessimistic about the continued existence of humankind."

Here's what I found:

The Princess Bride by William Goldman
"I went to amazon to find a unabriged copy of the princess bride. The copy I recieved is not unabriged. I found out that amazon dose not have aunabriged fore  sale,but if you request it it comes up that they do.So now I am stuck with a book that I do not want and still nedd the book that I do not have." [sic]
(If you haven't read The Princess Bride, it might help to understand that the book is not actually abridged. There are several authorial interruptions throughout the book, but these are part of the fiction.)

Ship of Magic by Robin Hobb (Book 1 of the Liveship Traders)
" This is 809 pages of adolescent drivel. The conflicts established provided ample opportunity for a satisfying resolution that never occurred. Far too much elaboration on the shallow reflections of flat characters. As a reader, I felt cheated."
(I want to scream: Flat? FLAT!? Hobb's characters come in so many shades of grey they put E Ink to shame. They're more complex than... than... ['What's something complex?' I ask, and my dad and brothers suggest several possibilities: integrals; rocket science; the female mind? Any of those works. Insert your own.] FLAT!!??)

Emily Climbs by L.M. Montgomery (Book 2 of the Emily series)
"Emily Climbs is a book for people of no imagination or life. Ittook me forever to read because of the lack of action and adventure.I don't reccomend this book to anyone with an imagination. END" [sic]

Stardust by Neil Gaiman and Charles Vess
" 'Stardust' was just about the worst book i have ever read. It's extremely boring, and some parts are very inappropriate for little kids.The first chapter was pointless and too long (30-something pages) and had bits of fluff that were not important. Every chapter is 20 pages or more. I stopped reading it by chapter 4." [sic]
(Perhaps this would be a suitable criticism of a children's book, but I fail to see how it applies here.)