Critic: Since returning to her home country after spending

Question

Critic: Since returning to her home country after spending years abroad, the work of novelist Karen Bateman has lost its exotic edge and vibrant characters. Her books now deal with issues disappointingly familiar to her readership in this country. One almost wishes she would leave again in order to recapture the spark of her earlier work.

If the conclusion suggested by the critic's statement is justified, which of the following can be most fairly inferred?

A) The critic's opinion is shared by most of Bateman's readers.

B)Bateman's novels were at least partly autobiographically inspired

C)Bateman's home country is less exotic in its population and customs

D)There is little literary value in Bateman's work set in her own country

E)All of Bateman's earlier novels were set in foreign and exotic countries

Why not answer D?

Kris01 · Accepted Answer

Hello Ranjeet,

Hope I can help you with this one.

The critic mentions that works of Karen Bateman was well know for the its exotic locations and vibrant characters. However, it is said that she recently returned to her home country. Her work has now lost its charm for the people of her home country who find the content very recognizable. The critic suggests that she leave the country so that she can recapture her old style of writing.

This whole argument is based on the fact that the change has come due to the fact that her personal experiences and surroundings etc have changed. The critic assumes that if she leaves the country, her work might bring back its lost charm. Option B suggests exactly this. Here the term "autobiographically inspired" means that her work is inspired from personal experiences and life. An autobiography is written by someone describing his/her own life. Hence, this term means that her books are inspired from her personal experiences etc.

On the other hand. A states that the critic's opinion is shared by most of Bateman's readers. Can this be inferred based on the argument? No. The critic suggests that one feels she should leave the country. However, we cannot be sure of whether her readers might agree on this. Some might agree. However, can we say that most of her readers agree. The problem with this option mainly lies with the usage of "most". We cannot infer anything about the percenatge of her readers who share the critic's view. Hence, A can be eliminated.

Hope this helps. Let me know if you need any further clarification.

MacFauz · Answer

IMHO, none of the options are very good. Can go with B only because of the reason that it is the mildest. Not looking to nitpick but the question has a dangling modifier. The real GMAT to my knowledge would never allow that. D is wrong because the question statement only says that the books were disappointingly familiar to the readership in her country. That does not mean that the book lacks literary value.

Kudos Please... If my post helped.

Vineetk · Answer

A) The critic's opinion is shared by most of Bateman's readers:  Incorrect. Out of scope.

B) Bateman's novels were at least partly autobiographically inspired:  Correct. This must be true as per the argument.

C) Bateman's home country is less exotic in its population and customs:  Incorrect. It might be true but not necessary to be true. May be Bateman don't think that the home country is exotic and is not inspired while others feels that the home country is exotic.

D) There is little literary value in Bateman's work set in her own country:  Incorrect. Out of scope. Literary value is not there in the argument.

E) All of Bateman's earlier novels were set in foreign and exotic countries:  Incorrect. It might be true but not necessarily.

Marcab · Answer

The very first line in of the stimulus tells that the question is ill fated.
As per the stimulus, " Since returning to her home country after spending years abroad, the work of novelist ....", the work of novelist has spent years abroad and it is the work of novelist that is returning to her home country. 
SC always comes to rescue me.
Regards.

ranjeet75 · Answer

How B is right? I could not understand the meaning of "autobiographically inspired". And, how it is right?

What is wrong with A?

Kconfused · Answer

That was really neat, Kris! I just realized why B is the correct answer and was about to post my own version when I spotted yours.
Thank you!

Wes Z · Answer

B would make the most sense since in this case, since by the premise: " Since returning...home...after spending years abroad, ...  has lost its exotic edge..."

This implies that Bateman retained the "exotic edge" in the works she wrote while she was abroad. However, since returning back home, that "exotic edge" is now gone.

Therefore, we can reasonably infer that her "exotic edge" was in some way derived from her own experiences while she was abroad.

D is unsupported as the stem makes no reference to "literary value."

guerrero25 · Answer

Critic: Since returning to her home country after spending years abroad, the work of novelist Karen Bateman has lost its exotic edge and vibrant characters. Her books now deal with issues disappointingly familiar to her readership in this country. One almost wishes she would leave again in order to recapture the spark of her earlier work.

A)The critic's opinion is shared by most of Bateman's readers

B)Bateman's novels were at least partly autobiographically inspired

C)Bateman's home country is less exotic in its population and customs

D)There is little literary value in Bateman's work set in her own country

E)All of Bateman's earlier novels were set in foreign and exotic countries

OA to follow

a13ssandra · Answer

what is this question asking you to do?

janani28 · Answer

Must be B.... Bateman's novels were at least partly autobiographically inspired

Lucky2783 · Answer

Care for writing the OA ? Please read all the rules before posting a question on forum .

vibhavdwivedi · Answer

OA is B from the following thread: critic-since-returning-to-her-home-country-after-spending-142402.html?fl=similar

sallysea · Answer

Merged topics. Please, search before posting questions!

arichinna · Answer

Analysis:

Karen Bateman's work has lost its exotic edge and vibrant characters. Now, the book deals with issues familiar in her own country. 
This implies that the same work has been seen differently by readers in her own country and readers abroad. The work is the same but the reader's profile is different.

A) The critic's opinion is shared by most of Bateman's readers.
 There is no clue that the critic's opinion is shared by the majority.

B)Bateman's novels were at least partly autobiographically inspired
 Yes. The work is the same but the readers are different. It implies that the work should be related to her home country or her autobiography involving her own country

C)Bateman's home country is less exotic in its population and customs
 Country is not less exotic but the work was supposed to be.

D)There is little literary value in Bateman's work set in her own country
 Literary value to whom? the local readers? may or may not be. The critic feels the value degradation but the readers may or may not. But the inference should always be derived from the given facts.

E)All of Bateman's earlier novels were set in foreign and exotic countries
 Again, the work is exotic and not the location.

VerbalBot · Answer

Automated notice from GMAT Club VerbalBot: 

A member just gave Kudos to this thread, showing it’s still useful. I’ve bumped it to the top so more people can benefit. Feel free to add your own questions or solutions.

 This post was generated automatically.

Critic: Since returning to her home country after spending

Prep Toolkit

Top 5 GMAT Debrief Videos

615 to 715 in 15 Days (Ria's Strategies)

More than Quant/Verbal Abilities: Speed vs. Accuracy

745 with Only Self-Prep and GMAT Club

From 555 to 765: 210-point Improvement

Perfect 805 Score Debrief by Julia

My Rewards

GMAT Critical Reasoning (CR) Questions

Critic: Since returning to her home country after spending

Prep Toolkit

615 to 715 in 15 Days (Ria's Strategies)

More than Quant/Verbal Abilities: Speed vs. Accuracy

745 with Only Self-Prep and GMAT Club

From 555 to 765: 210-point Improvement

Perfect 805 Score Debrief by Julia

My Rewards