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I used to be the unpublished manuscripts reviewer for the West Coast Review of Books, so I am certainly familiar with the horrible stuff people can publish.
I pay a lot of attention to reviewers, though I rarely read a complete review. I find out if the reviewer liked the book, and if I decide I might be interested, I immediately put the review down. I don't want any details -- I will determine the details while reading.
I was a member of an online book group for awhile; eventually I came to a decision. I am making my own journey through literature and I don't ultimately care much about the opinion of other people, except as an initial guideline. Especially the opinions of people who don't know much about the subject they are criticizing.
I don't feel much need to file each book into a quality niche -- this one is great, this not. I just know that this one moved me, this one didn't. I will return to books that didn't work for me but that others liked. I started War and Peace seven times before I got past the moat that is the party at the beginning and into the amazing novel beyond.
There are many bad "ordinary people" reviews -- people who pick up Catcher in the Rye or Catch-22 and hate them. I always wonder what they think they win by not appreciating them. It's like music -- if you hate classical or don't appreciate rap, it's you who lose. Maybe you can't appreciate such things, but there is no reason to be happy about it. You might as well be smug about not enjoying a beautiful day. To miss that enjoyment makes you less.
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