Morrissey mauling wins Hatchet Job award

Journalist AA Gill's savage review of Morrissey's Autobiography has won Britain's Hatchet Job award for 2013's most cutting book review.

It was Morrissey who once sang: "Heaven Knows I'm Miserable Now."

The former Smiths frontman may wish to replay the song. A savage review of his best-selling memoir won Britain's Hatchet Job award Tuesday for the year's most cutting book review.

Writing in Britain's Sunday Times newspaper, journalist AA Gill said Morrissey's Autobiography was "utterly devoid of insight, warmth, wisdom or likability."

Autobiography topped the British best-seller lists when it was published last year. It appeared under the Penguin Classics imprint, a rare designation for a living writer.

In his review, Gill said that publishing the book as a classic "doesn't diminish Aristotle or Homer or Tolstoy; it just roundly mocks Morrissey."

The Hatchet Job award was established in 2011 by literary website The Omnivore to honour "the angriest, funniest, most trenchant" review published in a newspaper or magazine. It has been criticised for rewarding mean-spiritedness, but organisers say the tongue-in-cheek contest has a serious purpose: to encourage reviewers to be fearless.

Gill receives a golden hatchet and a year's supply of potted shrimp from the award's sponsor, a fishmonger.


1 min read

Published

Updated

Source: AAP


Share this with family and friends


Get SBS News daily and direct to your Inbox

Sign up now for the latest news from Australia and around the world direct to your inbox.

By subscribing, you agree to SBS’s terms of service and privacy policy including receiving email updates from SBS.

Follow SBS News

Download our apps

Listen to our podcasts

Get the latest with our News podcasts on your favourite podcast apps.

Watch on SBS

SBS World News

Take a global view with Australia's most comprehensive world news service

Watch now

Watch the latest news videos from Australia and across the world