Prof. Hains,
As a college professor myself, albeit of English (and a rabbi to boot), I fully support your right to write (sorry) book reviews, favorable or un-. No writer can expect perfection every time; novels do not spring from the forehead of Zeus, and I recall reading that Hemingway, that perfectionist, re-wrote the ending to "A Farewell to Arms" twenty-nine times(!).
We are all aiming to write that ephemeral simple declarative sentence.
Finally, as I tell my students, there is a reason why Hollywood keeps cranking out sequels: none of those poor, overpaid screenwriters have had an original idea in the last thirty years. Every American has at least one novel and one screenplay inside of them; it is our duty to bring it out.
All the best with your academic and escritorial careers,
David Mark