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[QUOTE=ficbot;1688353]How are they different from air conditioners? They are a product which is sold to the customer for money, the end. Being a novel instead of an air conditioner or a widget or a loaf of bread doesn't confer upon them special status.
Okay, I'm belaboring the obvious, but you put an air-conditioner in a room and either it cools the room or it doesn't. It's noisy or it isn't. These are things that can be objectively measured. A novel moves you or it doesn't. It speaks to your experience of life and your expectations of art or it doesn't. Those things are subjective and emotional. I think that means you should approach reviewing books with some awareness of the sensitivities of others and the possible limits of your own perceptions.
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