MobileRead Forums - View Single Post - Buying books: words or phrases that can turn a 'yes' into a 'no'?

issybird · 08-17-2020, 07:56 AM

I pulled up a review of a highly rated Goodreads book that sounded positively dire to me, and here are some of the trigger words and phrases in the blurb:

Soul
Noble student
Profound spiritual insight
Finding beauty in a cruel and arbitrary world
Somber backdrop
Unusual story
Soulmate

There are more, but you catch the drift. Some of these would make the all-time list, notably “soulmate” and “spiritual insight,” but others, less specific, still add up to not being able to hit the back button fast enough. And mostly because the author or whoever was responsible for this drivel tips her hand. I don’t mind a soulmate or spiritual insight in theory, but if you’ve got to label it, you’ve got serious problems. You clearly don’t trust your narrative to do the job.

08-17-2020, 07:56 AM	#60
issybird o saeclum infacetum Posts: 21,341 Karma: 234636059 Join Date: Oct 2010 Location: New England Device: Mini, H2O, Glo HD, Aura One, PW4, PW5	I pulled up a review of a highly rated Goodreads book that sounded positively dire to me, and here are some of the trigger words and phrases in the blurb: Soul Noble student Profound spiritual insight Finding beauty in a cruel and arbitrary world Somber backdrop Unusual story Soulmate There are more, but you catch the drift. Some of these would make the all-time list, notably “soulmate” and “spiritual insight,” but others, less specific, still add up to not being able to hit the back button fast enough. And mostly because the author or whoever was responsible for this drivel tips her hand. I don’t mind a soulmate or spiritual insight in theory, but if you’ve got to label it, you’ve got serious problems. You clearly don’t trust your narrative to do the job.