Michiko Kakutani didn't work for the Book Review. She was the chief book critic of the arts section. The Book Review is a separate organization within the NYT, with an entirely separate editing staff. Sure sometimes critics like Kakutani and A.O. Scott would review things there, but it was always an assignment, not representative of the NYTBR. Generally, editors in the NYTBR strive to pick folks who are "interesting" to review the book rather than not, which leads to spicy reviews because they want to sell the Sunday section.

This article is confused from the get go.