Rewarding Mediocrity?

Interesting post at the Reading Experience slapping reviewers on the wrist for their positive takes on Amy Bloom's novel Away which Dan Green thinks is mediocre. I haven't read the novel, so I have no opinion on it one way or the other. But I find the idea that reviewers may actually reward mediocrity and unoriginality interesting. It's certainly true that some novels are easier for a reviewer to grok on a first read, and under the pressure of deadlines those novels may come off better than ones that require multiple reads to fully appreciate. There is a phenomenon in high schools, for example, related to the fact that writers who use a lot of symbolism are easier to teach because it's something for the teacher to latch onto and create a discussion around. (This is, of course, a gross generalization, but I'll throw it out there anyway.)