My friend's novel is pretty awful, should I tell him?

A reader asks

My friend has asked my opinion on his novel, which he’s spent years painstakingly researching and writing.

I rather dreaded the task – when he handed me the manuscript it was so heavy I could hardly carry it to the car.

It’s somewhat florid, and to my mind pretty awful. How honest should I be? I am normally quite a blunt person, so he’ll know if I’m flannelling.

Anne Robinson replies

Whenever he was asked to read a manuscript, Keith Waterhouse, the late playwright and author, would say: "Yes, by all means send it to me. But you need to know when I have read it, I will lie."

Sadly it’s a bit late for you to follow that excuse. However the following tip could be handy.

When I’m asked to give a couple of lines of praise for the back of a book soon to be published and the book is terrible, there are a few different lines I fall back on.

Feel free to use one or more to get yourself out of trouble.

For example you might perhaps tell your friend his work is "jaw droppingly original", as well as, "way ahead of its time". Or my favourite, "like nothing I have ever read before".

Hopefully he’ll take any of these as huge compliments.