Author Topic: Writing a polite book review  (Read 535 times)

pierrotlunaire0

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Re: Writing a polite book review
« Reply #15 on: July 08, 2020, 02:13:37 pm »
The fact that this is a memoir makes it a little trickier. Every writer's work is personal to them, but obviously a memoir is their life! Being needlessly harsh would feel like a real betrayal to me.

That is why last year when my book club read a memoir that I didn't care for, I debated leaving a negative review on Amazon, ultimately deciding not to. The fact was that I wanted to grab the author, give her a little shake, and yell, "Get therapy! You need help! Your anger and bitterness are eating you alive, and made this book a long and hard journey."

I tried to compose a reasoned and dispassionate review, but I would get worked up and realized, it just wasn't worth the strife it was causing me.
I have enough lithium in my medicine cabinet to power three cars across a sizeable desert.  Which makes me officially...Three Cars Crazy
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malfoyfan13

Re: Writing a polite book review
« Reply #16 on: July 10, 2020, 03:28:32 pm »
I used to write reviews for Amazon Vine.  We were given a long list of books from which to choose our monthly selections; sometimes I'd get a couple of really enjoyable books, sometimes not.  (it can be hard to decide from a very short blurb.)  We had to write a review of every book we chose, so sometimes my reviews were not positive.  In those cases, I'd focus on what bothered me about the book: the writer's style, the pace of the story, the lack of plot or too much plot, unbelievable characters, bad editing and so on.  There were times when I got sarcastic, mostly in cases where the book was SO bad I felt it deserved to be thoroughly panned.  Mostly I tried to be constructive and point out WHY a storyline or character didn't work for me, or why the book was boring or otherwise unpleasant to read.  My goal was to give readers an honest view of the book.  I had no agenda of promoting a writer or a genre.  I tried to write the type of review *I* like to read.  I don't like the 5-star reviews that mostly are of the "awesomest book ever!!!" type, because that tells me nothing about the book.  I want to know if it's a good read - does the story flow, will I be interested in/care about the characters, will I think about it after I finish it?   And if multiple people say it's terrible I'd like to see those reviews and find out why they felt that way.

I think it's possible to be critical without being mean.  Saying that a book was boring isn't mean, it's honest if that's how you felt. I have read books that I really struggled to finish, but needed to finish in order to be able to provide a review.  I have read "thrillers" that were more like appliance manuals.  I don't think it does the author any good service to lie and say you liked a book if you didn't.  Maybe they can learn something from your review.  Maybe next time they'll find a better editor or do a few more re-writes. I've always felt that people who say "i can't give a one-star review, that would be mean!" are totally wrong.

Anyway, my advice is to write what you honestly feel and don't worry about it.