Does this forum and S&L skew your view on a book?

[Matthew]

Listening to the podcast and show over the past couple of weeks it seems that the Magicians has been really divisive. I didn't read that book, but I remember some heated discussions when the group read Blindsight last year. In that book there was a huge debate surrounding the whole vampire issue. When I read the book I didn't pay any attention really to that fact and found it incredibly minor in the overall reading. It was only after I came to the boards that I found the issue put at the forefront of the discussion and it consequently dominated the rest of the discussion of the book. The same seems to have been true for the main character and the discussion around the Magicians

Does anyone else feel we may have a bit of group-think occurring during any of the book discussions? Did other people feel as passionately about the Magicians before coming to the boards and seeing where people are weighing in? Is the discussion coloring what may be your "natural" takeaway when reading a story?

[P. Aaron]

If the discussion were subject to GroupThink, wouldn't we expect to see *less* division on a title, rather than more?

[Random]

It isn't so much of everyone thinks the same thing, so much as as a group, people will tend to focus on the aspects the group is focusing on, especially if those aspects would never have occurred to them as individuals.

I've seen it a number of times across a number of groups.

I'll have to go back and look at the Blindsight discussions. I adored the book and the fact that one of the characters was called a "vampire" was insignificant to me, where his behavior and role he played in the group was significant.

[Kim]

I try not to read any discussions before I've finished a book so I don't get any preconceptions which may change how I view it. I then write my review so I can put down how I thought and only then will I venture into discussions.

[terpkristin]

Kim wrote: "I try not to read any discussions before I've finished a book so I don't get any preconceptions which may change how I view it. I then write my review so I can put down how I thought and only then will I venture into discussions. "

I do the same. Once I'm done, though, I do sometimes look at other reviews before I write mine. My goal in doing that isn't to change my opinion, but to see if anybody else points out something I may have missed that might alter my perception. So far, I haven't had an experience where someone has changed my mind, but I have come to an understanding why others might feel a certain way about a book.

[Jane]

terpkristin wrote: "Kim wrote: "I try not to read any discussions before I've finished a book so I don't get any preconceptions which may change how I view it. I then write my review so I can put down how I thought an..."
I agree totally with your thoughts here, this is what I do also, and if I like or dislike something im not easily swayed away from that opinion, im stubborn lol

[Matthew]

terpkristin wrote: "Kim wrote: "I try not to read any discussions before I've finished a book so I don't get any preconceptions which may change how I view it. I then write my review so I can put down how I thought an..."

That is sort of the point I was getting at though. If you didn't naturally come to or see a point and you do see something that alters your opinion after the fact, is it in fact skew your view on a book?

[Katherine]

Matthew wrote: "terpkristin wrote: "Kim wrote: "I try not to read any discussions before I've finished a book so I don't get any preconceptions which may change how I view it. I then write my review so I can put d..."

I think reading discussions don't so much skew my view of a book, but they can serve to expand my view. Which, to me, is the point of a book-club or discussion group, to expand your horizons while sharing your own unique viewpoint with others to help them to expand theirs.

[P. Aaron]

Random wrote: "...people will tend to focus on the aspects the group is focusing on, especially if those aspects would never have occurred to them as individuals.. ."

Isn't that the point of a book group? To get perspectives and insights that would never have occurred to you as an individual reader? Heaven knows my reactions to the Magicians was significantly moderated by others' resistance to my initial critiques. Tom's got me halfway to rethinking Grossman's book. We'll see if Grossman himself can finish the job.

[Random]

P. Aaron wrote: "Isn't that the point of a book group? To get perspectives and insights that would never have occurred to you as an individual reader?"

I wasn't too clear in my statement and should have added "to the point where most other aspects of the book get ignored".

I've seen it happen many places online (not just here and not just Goodreads) and IRL. It happens. I suspect its human nature to gravitate to where a discussion is most active.

[terpkristin]

I agree with what Katherine wrote, that they expand my view. That's what I was trying to say but she put it more eloquently.

I don't think that getting a better understanding of other viewpoints (especially for things in books that I don't like) is the same as skewing my opinion...Though I guess there is some semantics there.

[Christopher]

Did you just mention "Blindsight?" I am having a flashback...

I think that the thing I love about this group is the diversity of perspectives and special insights the members have into any given work.

I have been turned on to some totally great UK writers not named Joe Abercrombie thanks to people like Ala and others....

Perhaps some of the other points of the book do get shouted down sometimes....but I think the loathing of vampires in space was far worse than the Quentin effect on the Magicians discussion....

[Anne]

There's always the chance (or risk) that the way the group discussion goes changes your own view and I couldn't really say if that has happened to me with this group.

What I noticed about what changed for me is that these discussions and writing about the books in this forum makes me think more about a book. If I'd just read The Magicians for myself I'd have probably thought "Yeah, was okay" and put it away. Discussing it with others reading and writing on this forum here made me realize exactly what I liked and what I didn't like about the book and that is an interesting effect.

[Tim]

So far, no. I don't really follow the discussions (at least those that contain spoilers) until I've finished the book, by which time my opinion is formed.

The downside to that is that by the time I'm ready to discuss the book, it's all been said and done already, and there are four threads that express my opinion and four others that express the opposite and everyone has moved on.

[Matthew]

I agree the book club is supposed to expand our views and discussions. I guess the question for the discussion is asking more about what happens when the discussion get dominated by a few issues or a few polarized arguments, as I hinted two in Blindsight and the Magicians.