What do you look for in a book review?

[Tome Keeper]

Originally Posted by Xanthe

What do I look for in a book review?

I look to see if the reviewer has actually read the book or just copied the book jacket blurb.

Copying the blurb as a summary doesn't mean the reviewer has not read the book, just that they don't want to re-write something that is already available. I sometimes use the blurb as a summary because I don't focus on retelling the plot in my reviews, and it is much easier to avoid accidental spoilers that way.

If readers just want to know the plot they can look on Amazon etc. the reason they are looking for reviews is because they want to know if the book was good or not, that's the way I look at it.

[newlaza]

Nothing One man's trash...

I like to read them after I've read the book and see if other people shared my gripes or opinions. Sometimes I read them just for laughs, some of the Amazon reviews of Slaughterhouse Five are adorable.

[Native]

Give me a list of books or movies or anything else that might connect to common experience, with 3 - 5 stars next to them. No reason to even list anything under 3 stars. Maybe mention pet peeves like religion, politics, sex, speling, whatever. Don't be afraid to tell me who you are and turn off most of the world. Then I'll know you well enough to follow your stars or not. Throw in some tight description if you want, but the rest I can get from the title and the back cover blurb.

[GraceKrispy]

Originally Posted by benham

Most of the books I read are authors recommended by someone on a reader's forum. Even on hear someone recommends the books to be reviewed. They do that because they enjoyed the books and want others to enjoy them too. But this is a forum, not face to face. Well intended remarks can be taken in a way that were not intended.

Ah, I see what you mean. I wouldn't be afraid to offend people, though, since we are all different in what we like. I know I have seen a "famous" indie reviewer give books I've read and reviewed a completely different review and a different number of stars, and it is always interesting to me to see who thinks what about the books I've read. I think honesty is so important, but I do think it should be done constructively rather than destructively. People can't argue with opinion (well, they do, but that's another story).

[CWatkinsNash]

What I like in a review:

• Information about the perspective (first person, third person) - I have trouble with first-person shifting perspective, no matter how well it's written, so it's nice to avoid it when possible. It's hard to get that info from a sample if the sample ends before the perspective shifts to another person.
• Information about structure - Is the story told in a non-linear fashion, etc.

What I don't like in a review:

• When someone can't objectively review a book in a genre they already know they don't like. I may have worded that badly, because obviously reviews are opinions, but I think most people know what I mean. It's fine to express distaste of the subject matter, but when someone goes on and on about how awful a book was because of it, with no regard for the actual writing, I really wonder why they even read it. It's one thing if they had no reason to expect a sex extravaganza in the middle of a sci-fi thriller, but if the title is Alien Orgy 3, well, sorry but they knew going in that this probably would not be a book they'd enjoy.
• A 3-star or less review that starts with "*****SPOILER WARNING****" Seriously? This just happened to me on Amazon. I was looking at reviews of a book. It had all 4- and 5-star reviews except one 2-star review. I wanted to see the reason, but it started with a spoiler warning. So not helpful to me at all unless I want to ruin things for myself by reading it.

[Xanthe]

Originally Posted by Tome Keeper

Copying the blurb as a summary doesn't mean the reviewer has not read the book, just that they don't want to re-write something that is already available. I sometimes use the blurb as a summary because I don't focus on retelling the plot in my reviews, and it is much easier to avoid accidental spoilers that way.

I find, though, that a lot of the times the book blurb doesn't really give a sense of the whole book - just the part that the publisher thinks is going to sell the book. That's why I tend to view askance reviews that start off merely repeating the blurb.

Perhaps it's also because when I was in high school/college and wasn't interested in the book I was supposed to read for my class, I used to read the blurb, Cliff's Notes and one chapter of the book and create my term paper from that. I used the one chapter to source all the quotes in my paper. I usually aced the papers using that method. Of course, I got nothing from the books - which is my loss that I recognize in hindsight. So when I see reviewers quoting the blurb word for word my BS meter starts to go off.

[spursbob]

Prose. I couldn't get past the first few pages of the first Harry Potter book as J.K. Rowling isn't a good writer; though I'm not her target audience.

[maianhvk]

Originally Posted by bashfulbanshee

[...]In my reviews, I try to address:
[...]
(3) What are its weaknesses?[...]

Before I read Hector Malot's Sans famille, I'd read the translator's review. What a HUGE mistake. The translator told me the biggest weakness of the book, and when I read I could never enjoy the details as much as I should have. Instead, I found myself being over-critical. I criticized many things in the book, and I was only 10 or 11 then. I figured out that when I approach something I should have the thoughts of my own before reading about others'.

I don't say you shouldn't include the weaknesses in the review. I just say it's a good idea to advise the readers not to read the review before they actually read the book.

[VydorScope]

Originally Posted by maianhvk

I don't say you shouldn't include the weaknesses in the review. I just say it's a good idea to advise the readers not to read the review before they actually read the book.

Umm I do not understand this mentality... why read the review AFTER you read the book?

[Giggleton]

Originally Posted by VydorScope

Umm I do not understand this mentality... why read the review AFTER you read the book?

Reading a review will alter your preconception of the book, if you had any to begin with, or instill a preconception. This is especially troubling for fictional narratives in any form. I would advise against all narrative review forms for narrative works.

[DrLaurenceBrown]

I look for meaty, objective reviews and try to steer clear of those that appear biased if I even look at the reviews at all. I usually read the first few pages of a book to see if I like the style when picking out what to read.

[VydorScope]

Originally Posted by Giggleton

Reading a review will alter your preconception of the book, if you had any to begin with, or instill a preconception. This is especially troubling for fictional narratives in any form. I would advise against all narrative review forms for narrative works.

Sure but what would the purpose be of reading it after? At that point what do you gain out of reading the review?

I may look at a review to decided whether or not to buy a book, movie, or anything, but once I committed to read/watch it I dont go looking for reviews to review what I already know.

[PaulineDesigns]

Originally Posted by VydorScope

Sure but what would the purpose be of reading it after? At that point what do you gain out of reading the review?

I may look at a review to decided whether or not to buy a book, movie, or anything, but once I committed to read/watch it I dont go looking for reviews to review what I already know.

I don't look at reviews before choosing what to read. The only thing I check out is the blurb to see if it sounds like something I would like. I don't really go looking for reviews after but at Goodreads & Smashwords if I rate it then I'll usually skim through the reviews to see what others thought of it.

Originally Posted by lestatar

Not giving away major plot points and posting spoilers is simply common sense and a matter of common courtesy to me as well.

I've got another question about reviews & spoilers. I just finished a book that had a leave-you-hanging/leave it to the reader to decide how it ends type ending. Now sometimes this works (IMO, generally better only in short stories or short shorts) but in this case it just felt unfinished. I'd love to hear some opinions on whether giving away the fact the ending is a cliffhanger is a spoiler or not.

[Frida Fantastic]

Originally Posted by VydorScope

Sure but what would the purpose be of reading it after? At that point what do you gain out of reading the review?

I may look at a review to decided whether or not to buy a book, movie, or anything, but once I committed to read/watch it I dont go looking for reviews to review what I already know.

Heh, I think there's two places for reviews:
(1) Before reading/watching, telling you to go read/watch it or not
(2) After reading/watching, to share thoughts about its merits

I look for the first kind of reviews 90% of the time.

@maianhvk: I hate reading translator's reviews. I keep on reading them when I shouldn't. So much spoilers! I think they're review type #2, but for some reason, they're been traditionally placed in the beginning of all "classic" works. It ruined Faust for me among other things.

@PaulineDesigns: Naw, saying "this leaves in a cliffhanger ending" isn't a spoiler.

I like having the strengths and the weaknesses of the book mentioned in both kinds of reviews. But their level of specificity should be different, and the way they are written should also be different.

[Crusader]

Originally Posted by PaulineDesigns

I've got another question about reviews & spoilers. I just finished a book that had a leave-you-hanging/leave it to the reader to decide how it ends type ending. Now sometimes this works (IMO, generally better only in short stories or short shorts) but in this case it just felt unfinished. I'd love to hear some opinions on whether giving away the fact the ending is a cliffhanger is a spoiler or not.

I wouldn't view it as a cliffhanger, but rather as an open-ended ending. To me cliffhangers are normally the endings used in a novel that's part of a series leaving you in absolute frustration to get your hands on the next one to see how things turn out.

Open-ended endings would be open to the interpretation of the reader. You can take it to mean something, and somebody else might think it means something else. There's no definite conclusion.