Comments on: What makes you stop reading a review?

By: Ian Sales

Ian Sales — Thu, 07 Aug 2008 08:17:37 +0000

“… a reviewer’s inability to differentiate between auctorial intent and the reviewer’s impression of said intent.”

Eh? Unless the reviewer has spoken with the author, how can they know their intent? They can only go with what is in the text – and that will be the reviewer’s perception, or impression, of the author’s intent. Another reviewer might perceive something all together different. But that doesn’t invalidate the first reviewers’s perception.

By: Links for 6th August 2008 part 2 | Velcro City Tourist Board

Links for 6th August 2008 part 2 | Velcro City Tourist Board — Thu, 07 Aug 2008 07:52:10 +0000

[...] What makes you stop reading a review?“… once someone claims that what they are doing is a proper review, it seems to me that there are some things that would be best avoided. I am talking as a reader here, not a writer, and about other people’s books, not mine.” Some interesting comments here. [...]

By: SMD

SMD — Wed, 06 Aug 2008 04:19:20 +0000

Oh, goodness, Larry. I might have been guilty of that at one point. If I ever did such a thing I sincerely apologize. Generally I like to point out flaws in a novel and sometimes I spend more time pointing those out than the good so it seems like I hate the book :S. Hopefully I haven’t done that recently. Ha! It actually takes a lot to make me hate a story, to be honest. I’ve only disliked two books to the point where I couldn’t finish them and I “reviewed” one of them (and that’s a whole different argument). And I’m rambling about crud that doesn’t matter.

I’m quite partial to short reviews, to be honest. Though I do like the occasional literary reviews (like what Larry does), but it really depends on the subject. If it’s a fiction book, I want it short and sweet, give me the good and the bad and tell me if it’s good overall and what it’s about. If it’s something else, such as the awesome SF/F criticism books that Larry has been reading, I like a deeper look into the work. But I’m also weird.

By: Matt’s Bookosphere 8/5/08 « Enter the Octopus

Matt’s Bookosphere 8/5/08 « Enter the Octopus — Wed, 06 Aug 2008 03:18:25 +0000

[...] What makes you stop reading a review? [...]

By: Larry

Larry — Tue, 05 Aug 2008 23:37:29 +0000

I know you weren’t pointing any figures, Kathy, it’s just that I was thinking of someone in particular even before I read your points :P Agreed on how certain reviewers, despite committing those things you point out, will usually end up finding a “fan base” that has similar outlooks and expectations.

By: Ekaterina Sedia

Ekaterina Sedia — Tue, 05 Aug 2008 23:11:15 +0000

Larry — as a disclaimer, I didn’t mean any specific person, but rather the sorts of things that tend to appear in reviews frequently, regardless of venue. And again, these are just things I personally find unhelpful — I mean, they ARE useful for other readers (for example, if a reviewer always describes feminist work as ‘agenda-driven’ then it will be helpful to those readers who want to be warned away from such work.) Same goes for ‘entertaining’ label — I don’t understand what it means, but others apparently do.

And yes, good point re: mismatch between the review and conclusion. It can be quite baffling.

And everyone — thanks for great points! It’s always fascinating to see how people go about reading reviews and selecting their reading material.

By: Larry

Larry — Tue, 05 Aug 2008 22:43:07 +0000

I swear when I read your post, Kathy, that one particular fan reviewer came to mind as one who does virtually all of those things in his reviews. Not that I’m going to name names here, though :P

You pretty much named things that are bugaboos for me as well. I’d also add this: Reviews in which the criticism/praise do not match the concluding statements. I’ve read reviews by a certain few where it seemed that he/she was really dogging the writer’s story, characters, etc., only to see a praise-filled conclusion. Baffling.

By: n.fonseca

n.fonseca — Tue, 05 Aug 2008 21:57:24 +0000

What I find most irritating is finishing a review without getting to know simple facts like “After all the talk, did this person liked or disliked the damn story?”, and knowing too much of the storyline, which is a major bummer – one of the reasons we all like reading is the story, right? getting to the next page to find it out…not reading about it beforehand.

By: Richard Parks

Richard Parks — Tue, 05 Aug 2008 20:42:56 +0000

When it’s clear the reviewer is more interested in showing off than in reviewing the book, that’s when I stop reading.

By: SMD

SMD — Tue, 05 Aug 2008 17:21:06 +0000

Long-windedness.
I know some folks really like the deep, heavily analytical reviews, but I’m not a fan only because when I’m reading a review I’m trying to determine if I think the book in question is something I’d like to read. I want the review to get to the point. Is it good? Is the writing style readable? Is it entertaining? What’s wrong with it? What’s great about it? etc. If the reviewer offers a rating, cool, if not, oh well. I usually skim reviews to look for the high and low points and make a decision. Sometimes even a bad review will get me interested in a book and I’ll buy it.