Quote:
Originally Posted by Rev. Bob
I didn't post a review of any kind in that instance. I set the book aside unfinished, and I don't make a practice of reviewing books I've barely started.
Figure it like this. Suppose you see a book on Amazon that looks interesting, so you "look inside" to check out the first few pages. They're not to your taste. Do you post a review?
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Just not to my taste? Perhaps not. I'd add it to my DNF shelf on GR and note in the review space there though. I have friends and community there who my taste aligns almost identically with, and they might find that info useful (and I have in the past.)
But I've certainly posted poor reviews based on the "Look Inside". You don't need to eat more than a few bites of a poorly cooked meal to know it's no good, and it doesn't take more than a few pages of a poorly written book to figure out the same. I'd write one if the problem is bad editing, illiterate writing (on the "He had always put her on a pedal stool" variety), poor formatting (books are a consumer product as well as an art form, I think formatting that's bad enough it makes reading difficult is relevant).
I did actually write one review on GR that was more or less based on the first page - the writing was so atrociously awful that dissecting the first paragraph was enough, really. That author publicly threatened me with criminal proceedings in one of the official GR feedback groups. I'm not sure on what grounds, or in which jurisdiction they were going to try that on with, but the threat was made.
That kind of reaction, and it wasn't the only time that kind of crap has happened, is why I won't accept books directly from authors or in general interact directly with authors at all. I still review Netgalley books now and then, and even there only from trad publishers, who really (really) don't care if you don't review positively all the time.
Getting books through publishers adds a layer of abstraction and distance that just makes me more comfortable. Though I never did feel any obligation to review authors who sent me books directly positively, or cut them any slack, but apparently those authors often tend to feel that way.
Their loss (or not, my GR reviews are hardly Kirkus or the NYRB).