Novelist Hoffman apologizes for blasting a book reviewer on Twitter

At one point, Hoffman printed Roberta Silman's email address and her phone number – it's unclear how she obtained the latter; the former was printed with the review – and encouraged her readers to tell Silman what they thought of "snarky critics." Earlier today, after a Gawker blogger plastered news of the Twitter messages across the site, Hoffman deactivated her Twitter account.

This afternoon, Hoffman's publicist sent the Monitor a brief statement from the author:

I feel this whole situation has been completely blown out of proportion. Of course I was dismayed by Roberta Silman's review which gave away the plot of the novel, and in the heat of the moment I responded strongly and I wish I hadn't. I'm sorry if I offended anyone. Reviewers are entitled to their opinions and that's the name of the game in publishing. I hope my readers understand that I didn't mean to hurt anyone and I'm truly sorry if I did.

In the literary blogosphere, Hoffman's original tweets have been greeted with condescension. Writing on Entertainment Weekly's blog, Kate Ward said that revealing Silman's contact information bordered on "harassment." Blogger Edward Champion calls Hoffman "the most immature writer of her generation." Over at the Literary Saloon, M.A. Orthofer writes, "You'd figure someone who has been around as long as Alice Hoffman would know better than to complain about what she perceived as a bad review."

And yet Hoffman has her defenders. Here's a comment from the Entertainment Weekly post, attributed to "Zora":

I think in the big picture, Hoffman is being judged way too harshly. So she wanted to vent and rant. Who cares? No one knows why she became angry, but everyone has their moments, for better or worse. People who claim to be her readers who say they will no longer read her books because she got upset are being way too dramatic. I didn't agree with the way Hoffman reacted or her tactics, but for the first time, I saw her as a human being and not just the perfect image of an author typing away in some old house.

My opinion? Probably just a case of Web 2.0 inexperience. Hoffman acted without thinking – and didn't count on how quickly social networks such as Twitter can generate, foster, and fan the flames of controversy. (Disclosure: I've reviewed books for The Washington Post and The Boston Globe, where I once worked.) That doesn't excuse the name calling, but judging by the removal of Hoffman's Twitter account and her apology, we can chalk the whole thing up to a lesson learned.

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Was Hoffman right to apologize? Tell us here – or on Twitter.

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