subject: Book Reviews - Buyer Beware by:Molly Lundquist [print this page] If you're looking for a good book to readeither for your own enjoyment or a book club suggestionwhat's one of the first things you do? You can ask a friend. But word-of-mouth recommendations depend to a large extent on personal taste. If you want a more reliable gauge, you'll want to find book reviews.
Let's say you're at a bookstore and you're holding a book in your hand. Invariably, you turn to the back cover where you find excerpts of mainstream media reviews. They're glowing, of course "Characters with heart!" "A non-stop page-turner!" "A major new voice in fiction!"
There might even be a quotation or two from well-known authors: "Characters with heart!" "A non-stop page-turner!" and so on. Authors are frequently asked by their publishers to write favorably about new imprints on the trade list. Some authors have admitted they don't actually read the books they're asked to review (gasp!), but they're willing to go along because...well, they're generous people. And they want the same treatment for their own books.
Don't confuse these kinds of book comments with genuine book reviews: what you see on the book covers are promotional blurbs, carefully culled by publishers from longer reviews, that mayor may notbe altogether positive. A blurb's purpose is to sell books, not to inform readers.
What's worse, media outlets sometimes come under pressure to write glowing comments so as not to offend their advertising clients, the publishers whose books they review. It can be a cozy, if sometimes uncomfortable, relationship for publishers and authorsbut not particularly helpful for readers.
When looking for a good book review, look for one that turns a critical eye on a book's style and content. A genuine book review considers the following elements:
Charactersare main characters convincing? Do they have emotional and psychological complexity and act according to authentic motivation? Or are they flat and one-dimensional with little detail of their inner lives?
Plotis the plot predictable or does it surprise, going where you least expect it? Are there interesting plot twists? Do events unfold organically, naturally? Or are they forcedleaving you feeling manipulated. Does the ending wrap up loose ends? Does it wrap up things too neatly, to the point of being pat or trite? Or does it leave issues unresolved, open to different interpretations?
Ideasdoes the book offer an exploration of ideasperhaps a moral or ethical problem, or the meaning of relationships (familial, romantic, or friendship-based)? Does it offer interesting insights or a fresh perspective?
Styleis the writing heavy handed,...uninspired with over-written or even cliched phrases . Or is the writing feel fresh, even inspired? Is the writing funny or witty?
Where do you find helpful reviews? The best, most in-depth are from major daily newspapers: the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Washington Post, Los Angeles Times, Boston Globe, Chicago Tribune or Sun-Times, just to mention some. Look also in periodicals like Time, Newsweek, The New Yorker, Vanity Fair, and Atlantic Monthly.
You can head to your public library and dig through past issues of newspapers and periodicals. Better yet, many libraries subscribe to online databases that carry the full texts of articles from the major papers and magazines.
You can also go online at home. But most newspapers and magazines require subscriptions to get into their archives, so you won't always have access to full articlesalthough sometimes you get lucky and find them on right on Google.
You can also go to customer reviews at the big online booksellersAmazon and Barnes & Noble. But customer reviews tend to be all over the place and are highly idiocentric. They can be helpful but not always reliable.
The best bet is to find an online book site you can trust, a website with an index of titles, reading guides, and book reviews. Look especially for ones that carry complete reviewsnot just blurbsby Publishers Weekly, Library Journal and especially Kirkus Reviews. Libraries subscribe to these review publications, so they tend to be forthright in their assessments of booksafter all, it's what libraries pay them for.
Nothing's a guarantee, but knowing where to look for reliable book reviewsrather than promotional blurbscan go a long way to ensuring a worthwhile read.
About the author
Molly Lundquist is owner of LitLovers (http://www.litlovers.com/), an online resource for book clubs and solo readers. LitLovers brings together Molly's life-long love of reading, writing, and teaching. The website includes a large list of in-depth reading guides, book recommendations and reviews, free online literature courses, international book club recipes, and plenty of "how-to" tips for book clubs, including tips for kids book clubs.
