When it is time for me to give the feedback to kirkus, I am going to tell them that they are like my unpleasable gay-hating father.

I see online that they are known for being hard on authors, but I question a system where we accept that from people.  Like as an industry, is winning that lottery of their acceptance is so valuable that we are all going to let them kick everyone else around? It is about the truth and about kindness.  There is a place for generosity and positive regard in the world of reading, and I just have to say that it is ludicrous to let the people who get paid compromise on that but tell us we can't do something unusual with narration or characterization.