Recently the issue of negative reviews has been cropping up in some of the book groups I'm in. So on this rainy day off from work, I thought I'd talk about it.
The controversy is that some readers seem to feel very strongly about keeping the book community positive. And while I understand that, and I definitely believe that the social media book community should stay civil and it doesn't need to get personal, the idea that you should only share positive reviews just doesn't make sense, for many reasons.
For one, sometimes readers legitimately don't like a book, for any number of reasons. Maybe the writing wasn't good, maybe the story didn't resonate with them, maybe they didn't like the subject matter. It doesn't matter what the reason is, everyone has different tastes and there isn't a book in the world that everyone likes.
I've seen lots of arguments about the word hate. Some readers don't think that word should be used when discussing a book, which I definitely do not agree with. I really don't like the implication that my feeling isn't valid because "hate is such a strong word." I know, that's why I chose it. It doesn't matter if another reader doesn't like the word hate, that doesn't make the my feelings less valid. And here's the thing: I, like many other reviewers, know my own feelings. If I hate it, I hate it, and I'll do my best to explain my reasoning, but I'm not going to tone down my feelings to make someone else happy.
Aside from wanting to be honest with anyone who may read a review I've written, as a reader I appreciate negative reviews, sometimes even more than positive reviews. When I'm reading reviews deciding whether or not I'm going to pick up a book, I often go to the negative reviews first. I find that negative reviews better inform my decision about choosing a book because the negative reviews can tell me right away if there's something in the book that I just won't like. Negative reviews are often where you can find true information about the quality of writing or if I'm going to have a big problem with part of the story line. Reviewers who loved a book will write a glowing review, which is fantastic, but they'll also usually overlook writing or plot issues, and those are the kind of issues I want to know about when deciding if I'm going to pick up a book or not.
I often also hear the argument that "authors work hard to produce a book," or "how would you feel if someone who didn't know tried to tell you how to do your job?" News flash: people have been telling me how to do my job for literally every job I've ever had. That's how people are. Everyone thinks they know better than you when it comes to your job. As humans, we have to learn to live with that. And honestly, as long as the reviews don't get personal (as in, no calling the author or readers who like the book stupid or the like), I don't see what the problem is. I try to keep my negative reviews constructive and informative, to hopefully help other readers avoid books they won't like. And that can go both ways. A trope I hate is someone else's catnip! So someone reading my bad review might think, "Well, she hates that plot device, but that's one I love!" and maybe that person will go buy the book and love it. It is my true belief that both positive and negative reviews have their place in the world.
I often also hear the argument that "authors work hard to produce a book," or "how would you feel if someone who didn't know tried to tell you how to do your job?" News flash: people have been telling me how to do my job for literally every job I've ever had. That's how people are. Everyone thinks they know better than you when it comes to your job. As humans, we have to learn to live with that. And honestly, as long as the reviews don't get personal (as in, no calling the author or readers who like the book stupid or the like), I don't see what the problem is. I try to keep my negative reviews constructive and informative, to hopefully help other readers avoid books they won't like. And that can go both ways. A trope I hate is someone else's catnip! So someone reading my bad review might think, "Well, she hates that plot device, but that's one I love!" and maybe that person will go buy the book and love it. It is my true belief that both positive and negative reviews have their place in the world.
So, while I understand wanting to keep the book community a happy place, I also don't think that keeping it happy means not acknowledging that as a reader, you didn't like a book, for whatever reason. Keep it civil and don't make it personal, but feel free to express whatever feelings you have about a book! Like I've said before, we all have different tastes and not every book is for every person. And as a final note, reviews are all just opinions, so take them with a grain of salt.
Stay tuned! Next week I'm going to do a round-up of all the Book of the Month picks I've read in June as part of the #botmreadathon!
