Conny Manero
  • Home
  • Lily
  • Waiting for Silverbird
  • Voice of an Angel
  • Kitten Diaries
  • Debbie
  • Blog
  • Contact

Blog

Anything and everything that happens under the Toronto sun.

What's the point of a review?

1/25/2014

2 Comments

 
Picture
People seem to put a lot of stock in reviews. Book reviews, film reviews, restaurant reviews … everybody has an opinion about something.

Me, I don’t put any stock in what others have to say about a book, a movie, product or service. What’s good for the goose is not necessarily good for the gander.

My confidence in reviewers vanished after a few unpleasant experiences.

I believed people’s review of the movie Casablanca. If they were to be believed it was the best movie ever. I hated it.

I believed the critic’s review of Avatar. If they were to be believed, the movie was nothing short of a miracle. It wasn’t bad, but certainly not worthy or the praise bestowed on it.

I believed the critics' review of Rent and OMG I hated that with a passion. To the best of my recollection, it was the first and only movie I walked out of. Three quarters into the story, I just couldn’t take it anymore.

So, after three inaccurate reviews it’s safe to say that I no longer care about others’ opinion about movies. And now books have joined the ranks.

I recently read a few book reviews that made me shake my head and wonder … what were these people thinking?

One author, let’s call him John Doe, introduced his self-published novel as ‘The critically acclaimed novel of the year’. Critically acclaimed by who?

Another self-published author stated ‘Finalist of the award winning collection of XXX poetry’. I looked up this competition and noticed that out of 12 entries, his poetry book came 10th. Since 10 books made the finals, this was not much of an accomplishment.

Another author took the cake though. He stated ‘THIS is why I created people in the first place’ … God.
God had reviewed his book and though it that good that this was why he created people. Talk about having a high opinion of oneself.

Does writing a review really help sell books? If the reviewer is a professional he could have been paid to give the book a good review. If the reviewer is a family member or friend, it doesn’t carry much weight. If the reviewer is a total stranger, a good review is a feather in the cap for the author, but readers have different tastes. What the one loves, the other hates.

So what’s the point of a review?

2 Comments
Linda
1/25/2014 03:25:49 pm

Hi Conny, I tend to agree I much prefer to read the sample and judge from that whether I want to buy it or not. The same way I would read the first few pages in a bookshop. If the author doesn't provide a sample I won't buy it. The blurb tells me what the book's about, the first few pages tell me whether the author can write or not.

I saw a review of a debut novel where the reader compared it to the books of Stephen King. I was surprised the author didn't ask for it to be removed. I mean about set yourself up for a huge fail. Maybe one day that author will have developed the storytelling skills of Mr King but I read the book... Stephen King? Not in your wildest dreams Mr Author.

Reply
Conny Manero
1/26/2014 02:30:40 am

I do the same Linda, I read the synopsis of the book and then the beginning of the story. I have to like what I see from the first page, or even paragraph.
That being said, I have come across books that start wonderful, but the story fizzles out as t it goes along. Or the story is good, but has a crappy ending because the author rushed the story.

As for writers comparing themselves to Stephen King ... huge risk. King has a very unique style of writing and few compare to him.
Thank for taking the time to comment though.

Reply

Your comment will be posted after it is approved.


Leave a Reply.

    RSS Feed

    Picture
    Click on image to be directed to Amazon
    Picture
    Click on image to be directed to Amazon
    Picture
    Click on image to be directed to Amazon
    PictureClick on image to be directed to Amazon

    Picture
    Click on image to be directed to Amazon
    Picture
    Click on image to be directed to Amazon

    Archives

    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    March 2016
    January 2016
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015
    July 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015
    January 2015
    December 2014
    October 2014
    August 2014
    June 2014
    May 2014
    April 2014
    March 2014
    February 2014
    January 2014
    December 2013
    November 2013
    October 2013
    September 2013
    August 2013
    July 2013

    Author

    Author of:
    Waiting for Silverbird
    Voice of an Angel
    Lily
    Kitten Diaries
    Debbie

Powered by
✕