{"id":634,"date":"2011-10-30T14:06:43","date_gmt":"2011-10-30T20:06:43","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/michellevanloon.com\/?p=634"},"modified":"2011-10-30T14:06:43","modified_gmt":"2011-10-30T20:06:43","slug":"what-a-book-review-is-and-isnt","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/pilgrimsroadtrip\/2011\/10\/what-a-book-review-is-and-isnt\/","title":{"rendered":"What a book review is – and isn’t"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

Anyone who has ever read a book and then told a friend, \u201cIt stunk\u201d or \u201cBuy it!\u201d is a book reviewer. Of course, book reviewing can be a lot more formal than a verbal \u201cthumbs up\/down\u201d. I have long relied on thoughtful print\/web book reviews to help me decide what to read as well as to inform me about ideas and trends happening in the world. I may not have time to read every book that interests me, but intelligent reviews help me stay connected to the conversations taking place in our culture.<\/p>\n

I appreciate being able to contribute to this conversation from time to time. I have been reviewing books for print and online sources since the early 1990\u2019s. My foray into reviewing came when I learned that I could get free books and curriculum if I\u2019d be willing to put together short reviews for a home school print magazine<\/a>. I loved to read, possess and abunda\"\"<\/a>nce of opinions, and appreciated the ability to offer a thoughtful assessment of a product that would help other families know whether a that product would meet their needs. For the last couple of years, I\u2019ve been an occasional reviewer for Englewood Review of Books<\/a>. (Probably not a whole lot of overlap between the readership of those two publications, but I digress\u2026) Because I love books, I also feature book reviews on this blog for books I receive from Thomas Nelson<\/a> and Tyndale<\/a> as part of their book blogger outreach programs, as well as for copies of new releases sent my way by various author acquaintances. I always have a stack of books for review sitting on my coffee table.<\/p>\n

Most of my book reviewing experiences have been positive, but once every half-decade or so, I will tick someone off with a less-than-glowing review. I once had an editor call me to tell me that author of a piece of curriculum contacted her to tell her that my review would ruin her curriculum developing career. Apparently, she\u2019d sold everything and relocated to a distant, isolated community so she could afford to self-publish her material. The editor asked me if I could keep the essence of my opinion in the article but soften my language a bit. I de-fanged it, but left the opinion in place.<\/p>\n

The good news is that if a book is really, really terrible, I won\u2019t review it at all. A while ago, someone sent me a self-published book and asked if I\u2019d be a part of a blog tour celebrating the book\u2019s release. The book did not have a single positive characteristic. The grammar and punctuation were terrible; the content was little more than stream-of-consciousness hack syrupy prose. I could not think of one redeeming thing to say about it. I contacted the author and explained that I didn\u2019t want to skewer her book publicly, so I was going to bow out of the process. She did ask what I didn\u2019t like about it, and I was able to share my concerns privately with her as graciously as I could (I think I was successful at leaving words like \u201chack\u201d and \u201csyrupy\u201d out of that conversation).<\/p>\n

I will allow that I can have a bit of a razor pen. Another time, someone told me that a single sentence I\u2019d embedded in in an otherwise fairly-positive review I\u2019d posted on Amazon had been fermenting frustration in her toward me for over a year. Since I\u2019m not a mind reader, I did appreciate her telling me that I\u2019d caused her distress, and felt it was important to do what I could on my end to restore the relationship. At this point, since her book has already been out such a long time, I simply pulled the review. It certainly wasn\u2019t worth the time and effort to rework it.<\/p>\n

That decision appears to have been what she felt she needed from me, though the incident has caused me to revisit what a book review is and what it isn\u2019t. Most of the reviews I\u2019ve written over the years have been primarily positive in nature, and I try to ensure that my critique is constructive. After all, I\u2019m a writer, too, and pray that someday soon, people will be reviewing a book I\u2019ve written. I have been on the receiving end of a couple of bad reviews, as well as the grace of many nice words about my work. May God give me thick enough skin to not be deeply wounded by criticism of my work, and thin enough skin to keep me teachable. There\u2019s always room for growth.<\/p>\n

Here\u2019s what I understand about writing a review:<\/p>\n

(1) A book review is not an endorsement.<\/strong> Let\u2019s clarify the difference between the two: A review is \u201ca critical article or report, as in a periodical, on a book, play, recital, or the like; critique; evaluation.\u201d (Thank you, dictionary.com.) An endorsement, on the other hand, is approval or support. Big difference. A positive review may become an endorsement of sorts, but that\u2019s not its purpose. Its purpose is to evaluate.<\/p>\n

(2) A book review is written to serve its readers. <\/strong>If a \u201creviewer\u201d is shilling for the author, he or she isn\u2019t writing a review. That kind of writing is called a commercial<\/em>.<\/p>\n

(3) A book review may include both positive and negative comments about the book.<\/strong> There is only one perfect book<\/a>, and God divinely inspired the writing of it. All other books have strengths and weaknesses, and a fair reviewer will assess both.<\/p>\n

(4) A negative book review written a Christian by does not negate the truth of this passage<\/a> if it the review has negative feedback about a book written by another Christian.<\/strong> Questioning a reviewer\u2019s faith by quoting a Bible verse (\u201cHey, you\u2019re not writing about whatever is true, noble, right, pure, lovely, admirable, excellent, praiseworthy = what\u2019s wrong with you?\u201d) is not a mark of spiritual maturity on the author\u2019s part. The content of the book is up for discussion; the character of the reviewer shouldn\u2019t be.<\/p>\n

(5) A book review should help readers understand something about the book that they won\u2019t learn from reading what a publicist or marketing department has to say about it.<\/strong> A reviewer is not on the payroll of the publisher. Thus, the reviewer\u2019s point-of-view needs to shine.<\/p>\n

(6) A book review is not a bully pulpit for the reviewer\u2019s issues<\/strong>. It\u2019s important for a reviewer to interact with the content of the book, but the review isn\u2019t a soapbox. The focus is the book\u2019s content, not the reviewer.<\/p>\n

Do you ever review books for your blog, a print magazine or amazon? What would you add to the list?<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

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