The Book Review - a few thoughts by Bronwen Griffiths
Most published writers crave reviews but what can we do if they are inaccurate or really quite nasty?
I try to review every book I read on GoodReads. There are other platforms but I’m too lazy to change. GoodReads doesn’t allow half-star reviews so I am unable to give a book 4.5 stars and few books merit a five star review. But of course I’m wanting everyone to give me a five-star review!
I haven’t ever given a book one-star although I did give one novel only two stars. It wasn’t a bad book but there were things I disliked about it and I tried to make that clear in the review. It also seemed to be a book that rather divided opinion. I felt guilty for only rating it two but in the end what matters is the content of the review not the star rating. One review of my own novel, A Bird in the House stated only that the reviewer didn’t like fiction or reading about faraway places (maybe read the book blurb?!)
I read Monique Roffey’s novel, The Mermaid of Black Conch recently. I personally loved it. However, like all books, Roffey’s is not for everyone. It does require a suspension of logic for, as far as we know, mermaids do not exist. But to criticise a novel, a work of fiction for being non-realistic, as someone did, seems unfair. Criticise the book for other elements that don’t work for you or state that you are not a fan of magical realism but to criticise it for being non-logical seems…well non-logical. It’s as crazy as saying you saw a mermaid. Mind you the two-star review on Amazon which called it an odd tale (tail?) did bring a smile to my face.
Book reviews which are also overtly political also worry me. Here are some reviews of Bana Alabed’s book, Dear World: A Syrian Girl's Story of War and Plea for Peace on Amazon.
“Child war regime propaganda. Shame on you Amazon. As if a girl with practically no grasp of the English language could write this.”
“Obviously Amazon can't be expected to monitor or censor publications but I felt I should point out that this book is a puff piece for Western involvement and regime change in Syria. The attractive cover, the sweet little girl, the recommendation from Rowling (who shares the same literary agent) belies Bana's history. An illiterate 7 year old, with no command of English, is supposed to have tweeted heroically and continuously from Aleppo without wi fi. "Her" tweets calling for World War 3, her anguish about a sister who wasn't her sister, her mother's tweet she was dead "oh no it's not her" have been deleted but are still available. It was a huge fraud designed to play on anti Syrian sympathies. When Aleppo was liberated her house was found to be next door to Al Quaida headquarters. Father is an acknowledged terrorist. This poor child is still not at school in Turkey but is being continually exploited by her parents, and now dragged around for publicity for the book. Shameful.
These reviews contain false information and could potentially be considered slanderous – Bana Alabed is most definitely not illiterate and she can speak English. (I have checked my facts). But even if you disagree with Alabed on the politics of Syria, these are patently NOT book reviews. Nonetheless Amazon refuses to take them down.
Book reviewing is an art. That’s why I like to read reviews by people who love books and read a lot, and by people, including professional reviewers, who have the ability to dissect and analyse a book in a way that I cannot. Of course I support the democratisation of reviewing but those of us who write reviews must be mindful. If we don’t like a book we should demonstrate why we don’t like it and we should also examine our own prejudices and blocks in order to reduce the possibility of these getting in the way of fairness.
Perhaps if you really dislike a book and can’t quite work out why, it’s better to keep silent. In the meantime though, those of you who do write thoughtful reviews, please keep on. Reviews help sell books. They help authors. And that’s not a bad thing.
You can read my reviews on GoodReads, or even read my books which are available from the usual sources. Details on my website at:
Comments
As for those political ones... yikes! They are personal, political attacks on the author, not a review of the book at all. I find Amazon's review policy really weird. I reviewed an offensive birthday card not long ago, saying I didn't like being sworn at as I browsed for greetings cards... and Amazon rejected the review. Presumably because it had the word 'offensive' in it. Ye gods.