different tempests, same teapot

I ignored as much as I could, comforted by the fact that not only did they not Get It, they actively made statements that were just insupportable by the text no matter how you shade it (Allegra hates her father? Puleeze). But basically, I concur with Alan and Kristin -- you're nobody until somebody hates your work. It's hard to take Slate seriously when they do things like give the surely sucking eggs Stepford Wives a good review.

Some brilliant things in the comments though. Like this gem (thank you KDL):

The invisibility of males in The Jane Austin Book Club is symptomatic of much bigger cultural and political problem. Have you heard of the rapidly growing movement, Fathers 4 Justice? See http://www.fathers-4-justice.org/ Do men's issues mean to you just having coverage of college football? Get an education -- see www.mensactivism.org Or just continue the voyeristic fascination with vagina monologues that The Jane Austin Book club represents.

But on to more serious arguments...

Sarah Weinman actually has a really interesting post about how hype may hurt the actual reading experience of books and how books that get lots of positive press and buzz also, without fail, end up experiencing at least some degree of backlash. (Witness The Lovely Bones.)