Dubi reviewed I Can Make You Hate by Charlie Brooker
Review of 'I Can Make You Hate' on 'Goodreads'
3 stars
Charlie Brooker writes really funny newspaper columns, and I absolutely adore his NewsWipe, but somehow the columns don't make the switch to book format quite well. Maybe it's because the topics he writes about become outdated really quickly.
Or maybe it's because, when you get right down to it, his grumpy rants are just sort of juvenile, and I expect more from a book. Charlie Brooker can make you hate, that is true - he can make anything sound stupid and anyone sound unbearable. But that's not really much of an achievement. If you're looking for any deeper insight, you won't find it here. Brooker's in it for the cheap laughs and that's it. Which is OK for a newspaper column, I guess, but that's pretty much it. This book is empty calories. A pleasure, but a guilty one.
His frequent self-deprecating reminders that he's just some chump feel like …
Charlie Brooker writes really funny newspaper columns, and I absolutely adore his NewsWipe, but somehow the columns don't make the switch to book format quite well. Maybe it's because the topics he writes about become outdated really quickly.
Or maybe it's because, when you get right down to it, his grumpy rants are just sort of juvenile, and I expect more from a book. Charlie Brooker can make you hate, that is true - he can make anything sound stupid and anyone sound unbearable. But that's not really much of an achievement. If you're looking for any deeper insight, you won't find it here. Brooker's in it for the cheap laughs and that's it. Which is OK for a newspaper column, I guess, but that's pretty much it. This book is empty calories. A pleasure, but a guilty one.
His frequent self-deprecating reminders that he's just some chump feel like a cop out, like he doesn't really want to stand behind his words. He might as well plaster "JK! JK!" all over the book.
Which is a shame, because every once in a while he gets close to something that sounds like an honest-to-God critique of contemporary media and politics (the media's apparent inability to treat anyone as anything but "celebrity", for example, was a strong observation), but before anyone notices, he goes back under the blanket of childishly calling "nyah nyah!" at everyone.
Like I said, it's all part of the format, and I wouldn't expect more from a newspaper column, but I do expect more from a book. Even when it's a book of newspaper columns. It just feels a bit lazy as it is.
And I can hate fine all by myself, thank you very much.