Wednesday, April 28, 2010

Book Thoughts: My Role as a Reviewer

I feel like a psychic - I've been having lots of thoughts about negative/critical reviews in the past week, and then the Huffington Post goes and posts an essay that hews very closely with my thoughts!

"Nice" reviews are a topic that come up with some regularity in the blogosphere. In the last two Book Bloggers Behaving Badly posts, bloggers who do only nice reviews have come up a couple of times (usually in contrast to people who viciously tear apart a book). I've discussed critical reviews with people on Twitter, and the big fear seems to be that if we write negative reviews, the authors will find them and their feelings will be hurt. Before last week that was something I'd never really had to worry about; the only author comments I've ever received have been on mostly-positive reviews. But then last week an author discovered one of my critical reviews of his work - Mr. John Granger didn't appreciate what I had to say about Spotlight. Which spawned a conversation about online reviewing ethics with my dad of all people (I love my dad but technology savvy he is not).

Part of that discussion with my dad was about the preponderance of positive reviews I see online, and I did figure that a lot of this has to do with how most of us are women. Women in general are socialized to be peacemakers. We tend to avoid confrontation, and writing a critical review certainly leaves us vulnerable in the case that an author finds our writing. As book bloggers, we all have a great amount of respect, and probably even some awe, for authors. Most of us are life long readers and authors are our superstars. The last thing we want to do is to offend those people in some way.

But my view is, and has always been, this: authors know they are putting themselves out there. They have put themselves in a much more vulnerable position than we have as bloggers, and if they have even an ounce of adult maturity they'll recognize that critical reviews aren't a personal attack. As for those terrible, vicious reviews I hear about so often - that appears to be a strawman argument to me, because I've never seen a review that was truly personal and scathing. In fact, even when I see less-than-glowing reviews, the reviewer usually does everything she can to soften the blow and rationalize why she didn't like it or why someone else might like it. Yes, it's possible that my negative review will discourage someone from reading, or even buying a book, but that's how life goes. I certainly don't want to end a writer's career before it even starts, but that's why I make sure to lay out exactly what bothered me about a book, so you can judge for yourself whether what bothered me might bother you. For example, I know I was totally harsh on How Beautiful the Ordinary - but that's because I was borderline offended not only about the glaring omission of bisexual characters but that this book was nominated for a prestigious award while other quality books were totally passed over. But I also noted that David Levithan's story is interesting, so if you're a Levithan fan you might want to at least get the book from the library. I also hope the review encourages people to start noticing who isn't included in what they're reading, from varying sexual orientations to race and beyond.

Really, I think as a whole we need to toughen up. I'm not saying every blogger needs to start writing incredibly harsh reviews. Some of us use our blogs more as reading logs than as a formal review-type site - which is totally cool. Some of us give up on books that would make us write a negative review, and don't want to dedicate blog space to something we didn't finish - which I also understand. But I know I as a blog reader am just as interested in the books you hate as the books you love. The books that rouse our passions are the ones that tell us something about ourselves and can communicate something important to your readers. Knowing what you dislike, as well as what you like, can help me form a better opinion of how your thoughts on a book might reflect my own.

In general, I think we in the YA blogosphere want the books we read to be recognized as something other than "kiddie stuff," something that is "less than" real literature like adult best sellers. One definite way we can start to influence that perception is to take our jobs as reviewers seriously, and treat the books like the serious works they are, and not just review, but critique, them accordingly.

7 comments:

Patti said...

Wow. i like how he complemented you on reading the book, even though you had obviously read it superficially.

I think, especially, if you put a critique or analysis of literature out there you are starting a conversation. In a conversation there are people with differing opinions. What that author showed the world is that he isn't really interested in conversing. And that, my friend, is why he probably doesn't get many invites to parties.

I've done both positive and negative reviews. I also find myself doing way less reviewing. I may like your book or dislike it, but if I can't seem to find anything interesting to discuss about it I won't post a review.

I've been liking Lenore's series. Great conversations. I think some people are too sensitive though. Some of the things that they dislike don't seem to be too offensive. Of course, that is just my opinion and maybe I'm too far the other way (maybe i'm an offender!).

Thanks for your post!

Unknown said...

Patti - I was quite amused that I was apparently the dismissive one in the situation! I still don't quite get that one.

I definitely find that books that don't stir me either way are much harder to review than others. So far I've only given up on one book this year (and thus didn't post a review for it), but the books that aren't inspiring end up sitting around for weeks before a review gets posted.

I definitely think there are some people who are too sensitive. For example in the latest one there was something about disliking people who leave links in the comments? If someone is little better than a spammer I understand it, but why would you discourage linking, even if it's self promotion? The internet in general, and blogs specifically, are nothing without links. So long as someone leaves something with substance in their comment, and the link is to something somewhat relevant, I don't care what they add.

Anonymous said...

Negative or critical reviews are among my favorites to read so it makes me sad that so many book bloggers just post about books they can say something nice about. Pointing out flaws isn't the same thing as saying a book is bad or without merit and it's a great way to start discussion. I largely stopped reviewing mostly because I got a new, much more stressful job. But also because I hit a road bump with a book I read that was by an author I had become friendly with (emails, coffee dates) after I wrote a rave review of one of his books, the follow up left me cold and chickened out on writing about it.

John said...

gucci borse
mont blanc pens
ghd
insanity workout
fitflop uk
toms shoes
ray bans
nike air force 1
replica watches
oakley sunglases cheap
canada goose outlet
ghd hair straighteners
coach factory outlet
gucci shoes
kate spade outlet
cheap uggs boots
instyler max
adidas shoes uk
ugg boots clearance
nike trainers
air max 90
ugg boots
coach outlet online
timberland boots
air jordans
burberry outlet
cheap oakleys
tory burch outlet
air force 1
sac longchamp
pandora
2015912yuanyuan

yanmaneee said...

yeezy
golden goose
supreme clothing
yeezy
yeezy shoes
balenciaga
yeezy
air jordan
yeezy
adidsas yeezy

theree said...

my companyother Check This Outclick over here click siteCheck This Out

labeau said...

bags replica ysl k76 b5l34v8r42 cheap designer bags replica a92 v2c47k9y37 replica gucci bags k95 p6v62c8z65

Post a Comment

Related Posts with Thumbnails