The great novelist John Updike once said he’d gotten to know so many writers over his years in the literary world that it limited the books he agreed to review. He didn’t feel comfortable criticizing the books of friends or acquaintances. Updike said this, by the way, in a conversation with Nieman fellows at Harvard in 1978.

One can understand his reluctance. Even mild criticism might provide the wrath of the author and end a friendship. Praise for the book of a friend might be written off as intellectually dishonest.