What I do have a problem with is when any reviewer, writer or not, feels that writing the review gives them license to savage what has been written and/or the writer who wrote it.

It seems to be almost a given in our literary tradition, at least recently, that a critic has to be critical, meaning that it isn’t a proper review unless the reviewer has ferreted out every last problem in a book and exposed it in the most merciless way for all the world to chuckle over. I don’t belong to that school of reviewing…and I have written some reviews, mostly for the science fiction/fantasy website where I help moderate the forum.

My method when reviewing is to tell a bit about the book (without spoliers) and then explain what worked for me in the story and what didn’t. I sometimes also try to add some statement about who I think might like the book, and perhaps who might not appreciate it.

If something in a book I review hasn’t worked for me, I don’t shy away from pointing it out and explaining why I think it doesn’t work. However, I’m always careful to point out that my opinion is just that – an opinion – and that others’ mileage might vary. Additionally, I try never to review the writer, but only what has been written.

Now reviewing non-fiction (which I’ve also done a bit of, on my blog) is a bit different, and if someone’s ideas are obviously crackpot, that’s fair game in a review…but only if it is clear that it is the author’s viewpoint, not just a viewpoint he or she is reporting on. In fiction, however, whether I like the author’s political or social or philosophical leanings is generally irrelevant, and comment on those have no place in a review of his or her work unless he or she has put those personal beliefs front and center in the text and been obnoxiously blatant about it. It has been my experience that this almost never happens in fiction, but perhaps that’s just a function of the fiction I choose to read.

But then, at the end of it all, I’m not sure reviews are all that powerful in getting people to read books, or to refrain from reading them. I can count on the fingers of one thumb the books that I have been influenced to pick up solely on the strength of a review. That was “Pattern Recognition”, by William Gibson. But again, that’s just me.

Cele, yes, critting is a LOT like reviewing. And the thing that people tend to forget is that it is ALL subjective. Just because I don’t love something doesn’t mean ten million other people didn’t love it. I think. Did that make sense? I have to quit answering comments at 1:30 a.m.

Karin, again, I agree. And it’s not about whether or not someone has the right to review. It’s more of a “ethical dilemma” type question to me. And interesting…

Toni, yes, I’m with you. Karin is right. Once you know what goes into writing a book, well, how can you say anything after that?

I, too, will “pimp” books for my friends, mostly because I truly believe in them as writers. That makes it easy to do. And I will rave about a book I love.

Rocki, I know what you mean. I don’t read the same way now I write. It’s the bottom line truth. You SEE the mistakes, or what you think are mistakes. I just read a book by a very popular author (no one here! I promise) that had a very glaring error in the very front of the book. It was hard to get past. It really STOPPED me. And I almost didn’t want to go on. And in fact I haven’t, yet. But my life has gotten kinda busy….

Louisa, I also agree with your stance. I did not enjoy it, especially the more I got to know the people I was reviewing. And once I was in THEIR shoes… Yikes.

Hi Ladonna,

That is actually something that I can see working, but still, if someone SENDS you a book to review and you don’t like it, then what do you do? They are going to KNOW you don’t like it. LOL.

I was critiquing a manuscript for an author who is a friend and a writer I admire. I just couldn’t get into the book, three tries and I was to mid book and terrified to tell her – I hated everything I read. I walked away in total fear. Weeks later I went back to the book and enjoyed it from the middle to the end. She actually approached my problem and we had a very good discussion about it.

Reviewing is the exact opposite problem, but requires the exact same technique as critiquing – honesty. While I have to give the honest bad with the honest good in a critique to be valuable and respected. I refuse to write a bad or snarky review. As someone above said, it’s all subjective to the reader anyway, what I dislike someone else will love…and for all the same reasons. I will definately write a glowing review when I feel glowing about a book.

I will not publicly trash a book. Ever. I might be critical of major bestselling books if they hit a sore spot (such as Clarice Starling is TSTL, but it’s still a great book!) but I don’t diss books.

I made a mistake early on in my career telling an author why I couldn’t blurb her book. I will never do that again. I was pained by it, I still think about it, I still hate myself for saying anything, but I was pushed and I can not lie (just ask Karin–she’s constantly trying to get me to lie, but I can’t do it.)

But I can refrain from opening my big fat mouth.

If I blurb a book, I read it and really enjoyed it. I don’t know if other will love it too, but i did, and that’s all I can do. But if I don’t blurb a book, that doesn’t mean I didn’t love it–it likely means 1) I didn’t have time to read it 2) I started it but it didn’t grab me enough to keep me engaged when I have a thousand things pulling at me or 3) I didn’t love it.

9 times out of 10 it’s #1.

But never will I diss a book. I write commercial fiction. There are people who hate my books, who think that I am a psycho, who worry about my husband (like I’d kill him! Really, there are NO perfect murders. Believe me . . . I’ve thought long and hard about this. Er, not killing Dan of course, but perfect murders in general. For books. My books. Fiction. Yeah. Made up stuff.)

It’s funny though. Some criticisms I take with a grain of salt; others hit a sore point–such as a weakness I know I have. Some criticisms I laugh about because they either didn’t read my book or they have no imagination.

There was one reader who complained in a review that I didn’t understand what a red herring was, that I’d pulled a rabbit out of my hat. I was worried about that, fearing I’d messed up my hints. So I emailed Toni and Anna, our Toni and Anna, a friend, and asked them, and they said the hints were there though they had to look back to see them. So then I looked back and I swear, I gave away the killer! But fortunately, it was subtle Too subtle for that idiot, er, impatient reader . . .