Late to the game on this because it's a review I'm bummed to share! I was so excited for this collection - Fake Accounts is one of my favorite novels of the past few years - but I found No Judgement pretty tough to get through. I guess I'd say that each essay struck me as longer than necessary; detours can be the best part, but most of the "sidebar" content felt less additive and more repetitive. There were a few sentences and paragraphs that made me laugh out loud, but overall I felt like No Judgement was work to consume (whereas in the past, I've found Oyler's work effortful but delightful). Thanks to HarperOne and Netgalley for the ARC.

I thought it was great that these essays are from what I understand previously unpublished. The writer is very funny.

This book was incredible. The style of the essays kept me reading and was a delight and a challenge.

Such a witty and clever collection of essays, I genuinely enjoyed this book. Found myself nodding along with the perspectives and appreciating the voice.

At first when I started reading this collection of essays, I was put off - - can't put my finger on what it was, but something about the tone bothered me. However, I kept reading and then got very interested, even if I did not agree with everything, I enjoyed the journeys down a myriad of topics - from vulnerability/anxiety (Brene Brown and Ted Talks) to gossip, to Good Reads reviews, to my favorite essay on "Auto Fiction." I finally understand now why I keep falling into the trap of thinking I am reading non-fiction when it is really fiction -- something about the way the first person narration is similar in age, background, to the writer -- fools me again and again. interesting that when I read other great works of fiction such as David Copperfield saying "I am Born" - I never considered it was Charles Dickens' memoir. Apparently this is a new genre and it was great to learn that this is a "thing." I enjoyed the read.

Thank you to Netgalley and HarperOne for an ARC and I voluntarily left this review.

thank you to harperone and netgalley for the digital arc! sorry it took me three months to read LOL

i am truthfully shocked that anyone has that strong of opinions about this 🤪 i read half of this essay collection before all the *drama* and finally finished the second half long after the drama left the literary conversation. and honestly i just don't get it? i left this collection feeling remarkably neutral.

at the beginning, i thought i was in for a grand old time. i loved the essays on gossip and goodreads. (the goodreads essay actually inspired me to change my bio to "amateur critic, professional hater" lol) however, the essay about living in berlin was so deeply uninspiring that i finished it and put this book down for like two full months. i got absolutely nothing from that essay and will never think of it again. <3

the rest of the collection was similarly bland for me, aside from the essay on autofiction. oddly, the essays on vulnerability and anxiety were rather in distant in tone, at least to me, and i struggled to connect with any deeper meaning oyler may have intended.

but again...none of this inspired any significant ire?? i simply moved on with my life. maybe i am just not online enough to understand what lauren oyler means to literary criticism, but i just didn't think any of this was that deep.

also, the last words in the digital galley i have are a footnote of the words "i'm kidding," which i think sums up this collection. it is not that serious, y'all. lauren oyler herself doesn't think so lol

Unfortunately, this was. DNF for me. For a critic, Oyler can sometimes use quite imprecise language and some of these essays felt like they lacked a strong thesis or overall point. Not sure if more time or more editing would have helped, but I found the research and arguments to be lacking here, and very little stands out to me a few weeks after deciding to stop reading. Bummer!

This is an interesting collection of essays, at times more criticism and at others more personal narrative interspersed with references to literature, history, and pop culture. Unfortunately, the insights don't come across as particularly fresh or cutting or anything new (see: the chapter on Goodreads), and Oyler's insistence on her own elitism is unflattering without being charming.

i do think that a lot of the complaints people have about this book are accurate, but i really enjoyed it anyway. it is pretentious and at moments unoriginal and poorly researched, but i find oyler to be really interesting and i never stopped having fun reading her thoughts and her voice.

I love how hard this tries and how hard it tries to seem like it does't care, but ultimately i didn't feel like it accomplished anything.

I have enjoyed Oyler's work historically and enjoyed some of these essays. Mostly I feel that they/the author needed more time to flesh out her arguments. I'm very interested in the subjects but a lot of the analysis felt superficial. Still, this book was an entertaining read and I look forward to reading more of Oyler's work as she progresses as a writer.

Struggled with this one. I have loved Oyler's past essays and thought I'd adore this one, but each essay was too long and rambling.

I’ve eagerly anticipated this collection since reading Oyler’s debut novel “Fake Accounts,” which is one of my all-time favorite books. As dramatic as it might sound, I credit “Fake Accounts” with reorienting my perspective on fiction, making me more inquisitive about authorship and the capaciousness of the novel form, while also just being a complete blast to read. I really haven’t been the same reader since; I think about fiction a lot more now, rather than just experiencing it and casting an unassailable opinion. The same can be said for Oyler’s essay collection; we not only finally get her treatise on autofiction (my favorite topic) but also her takes on gossip, revenge, Berlin, vulnerability, Goodreads, spoilers, and anxiety (some of my other favorite topics).

While the book is about the practice of criticism, and Oyler proffers Her Perfect Opinions™️ accordingly, the book interestingly simmers in the implications of moving between private and public spaces, both for herself as a novelist and critic with a reputation, and for her (likely chronically online) readers. It’s an inquiry she cleverly addressed in novel form and now expounds on it without the veil of fiction. The collection makes the case for thinking and making sense of what to do with judgment when we have it, or encounter it: “I think ‘Why I’m Right’ should be the subtext of any piece of critical writing, balancing as it does subjectivity with objectivity.” But it also raises the sticky issue, in ways both explicit and implicit, of what happens when such judgments are publicized, attached to a person, potentially misconstrued, yet hopefully grappled with fairly. This is captured in the book’s opening lines: “Well, well, well. The book has started. There’s no turning back.” There is indeed no turning back, for both Lauren and us readers, and we are all better for it. Read it! I will be judging you if you don’t.

No Judgment was an interesting mix of essays. Sometimes they felt a little wordy, but I appreciated the author's perspectives.

A treatise on gossip for the 21st century, the tea on what authors think of goodreads, plus the smartest, most astute and witty writing on the current culture (which undeniably must include a survey of life online) that I’ve read, NO JUDGMENT, is a brilliant collection for our times.

The first several essays are the most accessible and it makes sense that they’re presented this way in the book: essays on gossip, the role of ratings and reviews of the culture we consume, what it is to live abroad; things that are pretty relatable. Then, essays of an academic tone: an effort towards defining autofiction as a form of literature (as opposed to genre), exploring “The Power of Vulnerability,” both of which I found fascinating but understood better upon rereading sections. There’s a mix of irony as well as sincerity in this collection. Personally I love the balance. It was a delight to read. If you’ve paid any attention to life online over the past 10 years, there will be something for you in these essays.

Thanks to netgalley and harperone for the arc

I enjoyed reading each essay slowly and multiple times. I love the way the author thinks and how she makes her thoughts accessible to the reader. I will use excerpts for class and recommend to both students and peers.

Readers who have enjoyed Oyler's essays in The New Yorker, Harper's and other publications will love this new collection -- particularly because they are all new, original essays, not reprints. Witty, relatable, sharp and smart.

I am very mixed on this set of essays. The essays cover some engaging subjects including clever writing about gossip (the beginning made the subject feel both personal and detached) and Goodreads (probably wouldn’t have reviewed this one if I was reading it on my own and it wasn’t part of the deal with NetGalley…but hello, here we are). The anxiety essay makes the rest of the writing make more sense. However, there is still too often for me an air of superiority and an acidic tone/perspective that detracted from the aspects I found smart and interesting.

"No Judgment" is a collection of contemporary essays, written by an author who's very much my contemporary (an American, around my age - not specifying more than that) that talks about contemporary feelings and events.

Some essays that stood out to me include topics such as:
- that modern existential anxiety that's haunting all of us these days
- is it appropriate for an author to respond to book reviews and critiques from both professional platforms (like newspapers/magazines/and websites) and amateur platforms (like Goodreads). This essay feels really applicable to bookstagram especially considering the recent Goodreads scandals, even if I'm not sure if I agree with Oyler's stance or not.
- as a resident of Berlin, is she an immigrant or an expatriate? What's the difference and what freedoms are afforded one group versus the other?

Even as torn as I am on Oyler's opinions sometimes, I enjoyed this book of essays enough - and felt there was substantial thought and meat behind her thoughts - that I preordered this book for my own shelves. Maybe it'll get donated when I go through my books in a few months, maybe it'll stay. I'm not sure and that might be the most alluring part of this book.

Smart, timeful and insteresting. Like many essay collection, I enjoyed some more than other, but that's not to say anything was bad or unenjoyable. This is like a time capsule in many ways and it was really thought provoking to read.