Book Assassination

[Laura]

I picked up a new book last week and, finding it was not yet in the Goodreads system, added it in. By the time I went back a couple days later to leave a review, the book had picked up over a dozen one-star ratings and a handful of very nasty reviews.

This book is not without flaws. I (kindly, I think) gave it 3 stars and left a detailed review about its plusses and many minuses.

The reason I'm starting this topic of discussion is that I'm concerned the 1-star ratings and bad reviews the book is receiving are the direct result of an attempt by the author's enemies to trash the book. (The book actually mentions the existence of these enemies and I kind of snorted at that when I read it, but reading the reviews, I suddenly thought, "oh crap, he was serious.")

I considered flagging the negative reviews, but I'm concerned that they skirt the technicalities of the Review Guidelines just barely, and just flagging them doesn't address my overall concern that there seems to be an actual campaign against this book.

The book is about a very controversial subject. I have no personal attachment to it or to the author, beyond feeling slightly possessive about a book that I entered into the system. If there's no greater recourse than flaggings, that's fine, but I guess I'm here to look for second opinions on both the flag-worthiness of the comments, and to find out if anything else can be done.

Thanks, friends!

[rivka, Librarian Moderator]

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