Book not generating interest or criticism (5)
I believe the answer is:
blame
'criticism' is the definition.
(blame is a kind of criticism)
'book not generating interest' is the wordplay.
'book' becomes 'b' (abbreviation for book).
'not generating interest' becomes 'lame' (I can't justify this - if you can you should give a lot more credence to this answer).
'b'+'lame'='BLAME'
'or' is the link.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for blame that I've seen before include "Accuse" , "Impute fault to" , "Hold accountable" , "Assign responsibility for misdeed" , "Censure; culpability" .)