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Review the book in front of you, not the book you wish the author had written
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I think you're entitled to your opinion that the author should have written a different book. But I'm not going to give much credence to it. By that I mean, I don't want anyone to think I know better what you should write in your review. If you wanted a different book, you should be able to say so. The only problem I have with that is that I would rather know what you liked/didn't like about the book that was actually printed because that's the book I'll be deciding whether or not to read. I'm unable to read the one you thought the author should have written.
This is the second time I have seen a reference to external links. What and where are these?
Elizabeth (Alaska) wrote: "I think you're entitled to your opinion that the author should have written a different book. But I'm not going to give much credence to it. By that I mean, I don't want anyone to think I know bett..."Well said, Elizabeth, especially I'm unable to read the one you thought the author should have written.
:)
To be fair, this isn't my statement, but a tip from the link I posted. :)I think a good example is saying like, "I wish the protagonist had figured out who stole the car at the beginning of the story so that the main plot would be about the romance." When it's a mystery book and not a romance.
Or when people are like, Why didn't they just take A. directly to B. That would have been more efficient. Yea, well. It's an epic fantasy and also there was plot in there.
I def don't mind when people say something like that but on the other hand, once they say that I don't really feel like I need to know more about their opinion."Lord of the Rings was good except for the swords and the elves."
OK, to sort of poke fun at myself. In another group, a book was mentioned in which the books in a book store are decided upon by a committee and the owner is not allowed to sell any other books. Eventually the members of the committee are murdered. Well, I think that's just dumb. It would make a whole lot more sense to me if the book store simply went out of business because it didn't offer for sale what the customers wanted. Obviously I want the author to have written a different book - But I have not read this book, so this is as much review as you'll get from me on it.
BunWat wrote: "Maybe a good example would be "I didnt realize this was a mystery and I don't like mysteries." I have actually read that review. I've written something of the sort myself only not about mystery bec..."I've seen the same said of romances... "I don't normally read romances but...", "I didn't realize this was a romance novel...". I always laugh to myself and think how I used to be ages ago, not willing to admit that I read romances to certain ppl because I didn't want them to look down on me. HA! I don't care anymore. But I agree they need to let us, the reader, know that its not their usual genre so we won't rely on that particular review.
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I, personally, go with the idea that it's ok to say anything you want, if you do so with the aim of being helpful. So, saying you wish it had been more romantic when it's supposed to be a thriller, well, that might not be super helpful. Imo. ;)
I think a review should just express the personal opinion of the reviewer, regardless of how objectively right or wrong that opinion might be. From time to time a review (or a comment) will demonstrate that the book or its writer has not been understood very well. There's a comment - not a review - in the book discussion about Jane Eyre which complains about the early part of the book dealing with Jane's childhood. I can't remember the actual words used, but basically the view was expressed that valuable time was wasted with Jane’s boring back story and that this delayed getting to the “real story”, that is, the romance with Rochester. I have no problem with that view being expressed, but it does demonstrate what I consider to be a fundamental lack of understanding of what the novel is about.
However, I still find it interesting to read what I consider to be misguided comments or reviews, because they make me assess and analyse my own opinions or reactions. On that basis, people should be free to write anything they want, even if from an objective point of view they are reviewing the book they wish the author had written rather than the book actually before them.
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What interesting points here. I have no problems with someone saying they are disappointed with what an author wrote and that they were expecting/hoping the book would have been more like this. What really bothers me is when a reviewer didn't like or was disappointed with a book and gets personally derogatory towards the author, or other reviewers who felt differently towards the same book. I mean the "Anyone who likes this or reads this author must be stupid!" type comments.
Dawn wrote: "What really bothers me is when a reviewer didn't like or was disappointed with a book and gets personally derogatory towards the author, or other reviewers who felt differently towards the same book. I mean the "Anyone who likes this or reads this author must be stupid!" type comments..."I agree. I think it is important to play the ball and not the person, even if the ball is played in a highly idiosyncratic way! Personal abuse is never acceptable.
I'll be a bit hesitant, but say that if a reviewer would have liked a book better if such and such, that's informative. But I've seen people say that the author should have written such and such, and to me that's unhelpful. Maybe that's shades of gray, but in my mind it's clear as a bell. ;-)
I'm fine with reviewers saying whatever they want: It's their review. It's up to other members whether they want to read more/reviews by a member or if they disagree or disregard what they say. I don't think I've done this exactly, but I can think of one instance when I said I didn't like something about the ending of the book, and without giving spoilers I said something about why.Honestly, I'm fine with whatever members write. I learn over time whose reviews I enjoy and whose I choose not to read, usually for various reasons, not the least of which is free time.
Kim wrote: "I think it is important to play the ball and not the person, even if the ball is played in a highly idiosyncratic way! "I loved the way you worded that, especially sense it says it better than I did.
Lisa said: but I can think of one instance when I said I didn't like something about the ending of the book, and without giving spoilers I said something about why.
You are giving your reasons why you didn't like it which is still helpful. There's no problem with not liking or even hating something that happened, constructive negative reviews reviews can often provide more insight than glowing positive ones. For me, it's the ones that take their disappointment almost like a personal thing done intentionally to them and then basically attack back by getting nasty and/or personal toward the author or readers who like the book.
Dawn wrote: "For me, it's the ones that take their disappointment almost like a personal thing done intentionally to them and then basically attack back by getting nasty and/or personal toward the author or readers who like the book."I've never done that, nor felt the urge to do that.
Elizabeth (Alaska) wrote: "I think you're entitled to your opinion that the author should have written a different book. But I'm not going to give much credence to it. By that I mean, I don't want anyone to think I know bett..."I think that the process of proposing that the author should have written a different book involves explaining what you did or didn't like about the book that the author did write. In my earlier post on this subject, I gave the example of the science fiction/romance cross-genre book that I thought would have worked better without the romance. It seems to me that I'm stating that I liked the way the author handled one genre, but didn't like the way the author handled the other.
Dawn wrote: "I loved the way you worded that,..."Thanks, Dawn. :)
Dawn wrote: "What interesting points here. I have no problems with someone saying they are disappointed with what an author wrote and that they were expecting/hoping the book would have been more like this. W..."
The "those who like this book are idiots" type of comments are one of my major pet peeves, although if the book itself is/was blatantly racist or derogatory, I can certainly understand comments that are a bit harsher (especially if the book is recent and not something that is dated, like perhaps from the 19th century).
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Now if it's as egregious as Sarah's quote, "Lord of the Rings was good except for the swords and the elves," well, I don't think I'd be that unhelpful. But I can def. see myself saying 'Not to my taste, because too much time was spent developing elf culture and describing sword fights and I personally would have liked a more concise book.'
So, I say, write the review you want to write, but be aware not everyone will find it helpful if you don't explain your reaction.
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When I said above you wanted a different book, I meant that I've seen people say that a character should have done such and such instead of this and so. If you want to change a character to a person less callous and more loving or alter the plot so that the last half of the book goes in another direction, I just can't read that book. And I've seen nearly those same observations about a book(s), which makes no sense to me. It's ok if you didn't like a book because you hated the main character, but don't tell me the book would have been better if Hannibal Lector weren't such a creep.
It's ok if you didn't like a book because you hated the main character, but don't tell me the book would have been better if Hannibal Lector weren't such a creep. Haha! Elizabeth, I love the way you say things.
I think that Elizabeth defined this best with her analogy.
Sarah wrote: "I think that Elizabeth defined this best with her analogy."No, I don't think she did because people who write reviews in which they say it ought to have been a different book aren't always so unsophisticated. Hannibal Lector becoming a nice guy would not improve the book at all. The genre is horror. People who knowingly pick up a horror book would generally have the expectation that it's going to be horrifying. I would only say that it should have been a different book if I felt that the author had not achieved his goal, and it was not truly horrifying.
While I agree with you to some extent, Shomeret, I've read tons of reviews myself that say things like "I usually don't read romances" followed quickly by a complaint that it was too romantic, or there was sex in it. Or a review of a horror novel that complained about how gory/scary/creepy it was. When I see reviews like that I am generally not going to give it a whole lot of weight when deciding whether or not to read something.
Gundula wrote: "The "those who like this book are idiots" type of comments are one of my major pet peeves, although if the book itself is/was blatantly racist or derogatory, I can certainly understand comments that are a bit harsher (especially if the book is recent and not something that is dated, like perhaps from the 19th century)."Very good point, people need to realize that when they are reading an older book or an historical fiction, biography, et al, that we have different sensibilities now than what was once accepted. I will add on to your comment by including books that deal with different cultures, religions and beliefs. I read one review that said the other culture of the country depicted was ridiculous, wrong and unbelievable (not in the good way). My first thoughts were why did you even read a book about such foreign beliefs and customs to your own if you didn't want to learn or at least be open to them. It is okay to say you don't understand, that it was not what you expected or that it is just so different from what you expected, but no need to disparage another country and its people or times.
Cheryl in CC NV wrote: "Dawn, msg 3, external links refers to a different discussion thread topic in this group. It's not very active, so sometimes you have to click 'more' from the front page to see it."Thanks so much, Cheryl! That makes sense, I was thinking it was outside of the group, ha-ha.
Tammy wrote: "While I agree with you to some extent, Shomeret, I've read tons of reviews myself that say things like "I usually don't read romances" followed quickly by a complaint that it was too romantic, or t..."Read my share of these type of reviews myself, they always make me roll my eyes.
Shomeret wrote: "I think that the process of proposing that the author should have written a different book involves explaining what you did or didn't like about the book that the author did write."Necroposting on a very aged thread because the title caught my eye as I was looking for a thread on a certain topic (which I didn't find). Won't some of you be surprised!
I've done my share of "if only"s in my reviews, and Shomeret's post here comes closest to what my intentions are when doing so. (This one is a pretty egregious example.) Recently I've been calling out my own reviews when they do this with "it is what it is, and it isn't what it isn't" or something similar.
I don't ever wish the author had written a whole different genre, 'cause that's pointless. I do feel sympathy for a reader who was misled by a cover design, blurb, or other marketing into thinking a book was one thing when it was actually something else. Pointing that out could help other readers make their own decision as to whether to read the book.
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(Do you want a certain thread to exist? We can create one!)
Cheryl wrote: "Agreed. Misleading blurbs and covers definitely need to be noted, strongly, in reviews. I'm sure I don't always remember to do so, but I do try. ..."Just ran across examples of misleading covers.
Been reading and re-reading paranormal romance/mystery/suspense, urban fantasy and similar. Noticed something. Many of these have POC as main characters yet covers tend to show dark hair (usually short to medium long) medium complexion males and females even when character description is contrary and appearance is important to story.
Not just POC characters misrepresented. Male character with very long light hair shown with short dark hair. Female with red hair shown with dark hair. In both cases the hair was important.
I am especially annoyed when character on cover is clearly main character from another book in the series that looks very different. They probably cheaped out and used illustration already purchased as possible cover art for other book.
I remember years ago SF authors debating who had most inaccurate recent cover. One author was incensed there was a blonde on cover when genetic engineering meant there were no blondes. Another author argued their cover was worse because there were humans on the cover when there were no humans in the book.
I think most of this is not accidental but marketing to desired audience combined with cheaping out by using nearly generic covers instead accurate ones.
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This cover (of a book I enjoyed, by the way!) is a particularly strange case of "whitewashing." The actual photo seems to be of a WoC, but...
In defense of cover artists, they work from information they are given. A scene, a few pages or paragraphs, ought to be enough. Right? Wrong. Cover from years ago the characters were wearing robes, as in bathrobes. In the book they were wearing robes, as in royal robes.
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This cover (of a book I enjoyed, by the way!) is a particularly strange case of "whitewashing." The actual photo seems to be of a WoC, but..."
That is another terrific example... and I, too, actually enjoyed the book nonetheless.
Indeed, which kind of robes? Thanks for the giggle, LJ.
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Cheryl wrote: "So, the question is, do we remember to discuss inaccurate covers and blurbs in our reviews, to help others who may be deciding whether to pick up the book? I try to, but I know I don't always remem..."I guess it depends how deceptive.
If the cover art is really deceptive then I usually feel it to be part of review, as is deceptive cover blurb. One where cover was part of my review: Cozy mystery with dog featured on cover when there was barely a dog in the book at all, no dog featured, no dog important to characters or plot.
Bad cover art like uninformative blurbs ("wonderful book" says xyz) I might mention. I don't remember the book(s) but I do remember saying of cover(s) they might as well put a field of stars on every science fiction book, a western saddle on every western, and a bloody knife on every mystery.
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(I mean to say, there is a spaceship on the cover of a lot of SF books where there isn't a spaceship important to the story.)
To be honest I have mentioned "the cover" only once and that was where the cover was there simply to look good, it had nothing to do with the story whatsoever. That said subterfuge was not required. I really enjoyed the book but did mention it in the review.
As far as the spaceship goes, they can create really good visuals of possible spacecraft these days (last scene of "Invasion" on Apple tv). But at least for sci-fi a spaceship is a good indication of the genre wither it features a spaceship at all. At least you know what to expect.
Lol- the sci-fi novel with grazing rabbits on the cover I thought a bit weird though a lovely cover. As it turned out the novel was about genetic experimentation on humans, but they started the testing with rabbits.
We have weird expectations sometimes.
and sorry for using the word weird so much. I have a weird fetish for weirdness I think. Weird isn't it?
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More than Just a Rating
Books mentioned in this topic
The Best of All Possible Worlds (other topics)The Best of All Possible Worlds (other topics)
Kill It & Grill It: A Guide to Preparing and Cooking Wild Game and Fish (other topics)
Jane Eyre (other topics)
How much do you agree with Sarah's statement? And if you agree, do you think it's more like a pretty firm & universal rule, or do you think there are times when it's just a guideline, and times when it should be ignored?
ETA - as discussion has progressed, I've realized that this issue is more relevant to experienced reviewers. Shy beginners probably want to wait awhile before reading this.