Possibly some relevant material in the edited collection Narrative Middles... also iirc the Claire Bishop argument about attention referred to by another poster is already sort of present in Nicholas Dames's The Physiology of the Novel, I think especially in the chapter on Thackeray

Imagine telling the story to someone else; what points would you have difficulty with (A: because of memory) or (B: because of difficulty in relating or grasping relevance)?

Are there any likeable characters?

Are you saying this because you really think so or because the author means for you to?

Some sample questions:

Anything in this book which is old-fashioned?

Were there any obvious narrative tricks or places Chandler cheated?

Could you draw a map of Marlowe's movements (if not, what would you have trouble placing)?

Is this a sexy book? a violent book? are the characters witty?

genuinely need her to write a full length prose work

Hell yeah! Congratulations!!

But Herr Adorno, what about the swing voters??