Let’s consider what it means to be specific when writing book reviews and other product reviews. Great review writing is certainly an art from and something I take quite seriously. Practically anyone can post online reviews, which is a great thing. But too often reviews lack balance. Not to mention a three-star review is now often viewed as being negative rather than average thanks to mysterious algorithms. Or, in the case of items like banana holders, Amazon is full of parody product reviews. So what, if any, stock should consumers put into customer reviews?
Book Review Etiquette Tip #2: Dwell in specifics, not generalities.
We’ve all seen our share of one star reviews boldly proclaiming, “Worst book ever!” “Hated it!” “Totally sucked.” “Terrible!” At the other end of the scale, just as many five star reviews give enthusiastic praise, such as “Best book ever!” Loved it!” “Totally awesome!” “Fantastic!” The overstated examples above highlight the need to back up statements with specific support.
Oh my! Holy crap!
Let’s pick on the book that everyone loves to hate, E L James’ erotic novel Fifty Shades of Grey (which I also read and reviewed not long after its release). The following examples from various writers showcase highly ranked Amazon reviews that offer specific support regarding a handful of issues in the decidedly poorly written book.
Laughable Love Scenes
Bad sex. “Down There?” are you kidding me? It’s called a vagina. Grow up. This book most likely intrigues bored housewives and hormonal teenagers. If the author was aiming to give that demographic the tingles she most likely succeeded. However, a book that it 70% sex should at least be good sex.
Repetitive Writing
And oh, the repetition…and the repetition…and the repetition. I’m convinced the author has a computer macro that she hits to insert one of her limited repertoire of facial expressions whenever she needs one. According to my Kindle search function, characters roll their eyes 41 times, Ana bites her lip 35 times, Christian’s lips “quirk up” 16 times, Christian “cocks his head to one side” 17 times, characters “purse” their lips 15 times, and characters raise their eyebrows a whopping 50 times. Add to that 80 references to Ana’s anthropomorphic “subconscious” (which also rolls its eyes and purses its lips, by the way), 58 references to Ana’s “inner goddess,” and 92 repetitions of Ana saying some form of “oh crap” (which, depending on the severity of the circumstances, can be intensified to “holy crap,” “double crap,” or the ultimate “triple crap”). And this is only part one of a trilogy…
Weak Characterizations
The socially stunted and immature characters failed to engage me on any level. The two main characters are so emotionally juvenile that the book often reads as though it were written by a high-schooler. There is also no plot of any sort, which I tend to require in a book, yes – even when it’s erotica. The dialogue is ridiculous – stilted and forced to the point of nonsense. The heroine is an English Lit graduate, and she talks like a 12 year old.
Culture Clash
Fifty Shades of Grey is set around a college campus in Washington state. That’s America, y’all. So the charming British-isms that James thinks make her sound like a high-minded writer (living in London though she is) are incongruities. Eighteen-year-old American co-eds do not “phone” their roommates – they “call” them. They should be making “dinner,” not “supper,” and they certainly should not be ordering their tea “bag out.”
Twilight Fanfiction
I’ve read several self-published stories that started out as fanfics, before the authors re-worked them into original fiction. They always falls flat because these stories may make sense in the fandom universe they were created for, but don’t have the strength to stand on their own. There is not enough going on in FSoG to make a convincing story because nothing really happens.
Lesson Learned: If you want to write helpful book reviews, be specific!
In case you missed it, make sure to check out Book Review Etiquette Tip #1 and Book Review Tip #3. This post has been re-posted from 2012 in order to bring it before newer readers.
Do you write product reviews? How much do you rely on reviews when deciding to make a purchase? What do you look for in a helpful review?
The images uses in this post are for promotional purposes only and comply with fair use guidelines.
Article by Jeri Walker-Bickett aka JeriWB
I loved this post! Seriously… great job! I hate those reviews full of flowery words but do not tell me anything about the book itself. I can always count on yours to be good. 🙂
Cheryl, or sometimes a review can give away way too much. Not necessarily plot spoilers, but I get really irritated when a review mostly summarized the story. That’s not reviewing, that’s giving a fifth-grade book report.
You had me at BE SPECIFIC!
I’m tired of reading reviews with vague allusions to the best, or worst, parts of the books. There are ways to draw attention to “The scene where the vampire tended bar at the party” without a spoiler alert, but so many reviewers just say COOL or BORING.
Thanks,
Candy
Candy, Getting people to go beyond COOL or BORING is quite the task! I used to pull my hair out over trying to show students ways to do so as a teacher 🙂
Yep, you got that. Be SPECIFIC. One liners are such a cop out and never really tell us anything. In the end it’s only an opinion. If one has one state it and tell us why. 🙂
Susan, I read a review just the other day and after reading it thought it could readily apply to any book written in the same genre. I wouldn’t even doubt it if the writer tweaks the same few vague reviews for many of the books they read!
I think this applies to reviews of all sort. That has always irritated me as well.
Patrick, on the flipside, I’ve discovered being “too specific” can result in vendors contacting you to request removal of a review. That happened to me with a three-star review I gave to a pair of shoes. They eventually offered a free pair in exhange for removal. I caved and took the freebie.
Thanks for your wisdom. I review books and always worry that what I write isn’t analytic enough. I hate to just retell the story and probably spend too much time just writing about my reactions. The longer I write reviews, the harder it seems to get. I particularly worry about reviewing books I absolutely love fearing I won’t do them justice. Thanks for giving me more to think about!
Ann, I’m probably the opposite in that I try to be so analytical in that I sometimes forget to pull back a bit and give a good summary of the highlights of a story. In the end, it’s all about finding balance between the two. What really bugs me are book reviews where the reviewer doesn’t even write their own summary but rather relies on the description given by the publisher.
Great post, Jeri… I wonder how i missed review tip #1 and why review #2 is being published after you obviously publish tip #3 – but i suppose i missed something along the way 😀
I LOVED the whole series… Writing useful reviews in general is a matter which highly engages me – just recently i published a post on my Bulgarian blog about writing useful reviews to freelancers and clients; and it is in the queue for my English freelance marketing blog, too. I think it will be a great post for a travel blog, too (how to write useful reviews for hotels, restaurants, destinations.etc. – on my to-do list as well!)
Be specific is a superb tip – i think many people fail to understand that what is obvious to you may not be so obvious (maybe not even common sense) to others. Not to mention that general terms like “worst ever” and alike mean very different things to different people who had different experiences in life. Being specific puts everything into context and perspective.
Thanks for a great post, Jeri! 🙂
Diana, guilty as charged! This post has been re-posted form a couple of years ago when my blog was just a baby blog that didn’t get the traffic it does today. I’m glad you liked the whole series. At one point, I was planning on writing more posts on writing good reviews. Time will tell.
I agree with you on all but one point and it may be because of where I’m from, Colorado. People in the US, at least in the west, can have “dinner” or “supper”. I can’t count the number of times when a kid that my mom said, “Go wash up for supper.” For some reason though, when we’d go out to eat my mom would say, “We’re doing out for dinner tonight.”
I wonder why authors get so detailed with the intimate scenes. Oh sure, if the entire point of the book is about sex, I can understand the details being there. However, when the details are there just to sell the book, I think it’s ludicrous. What is your opinion on this?
Glynis, I’m okay with intimate scenes as well as harsh language if it fits the context of the story and its characters. But when scenes are just in place to titillate, I get a bit put-off by such tactics as well. Yet, the thresh hold varies from person to person for what would qualify as being over the top.
You are right on target with this post! Thank you for trying to educate others in the fine art of review writing. Nothing is more irritating than reading 400 reviews of “WOW”, “CAN’T WAIT TO READ THIS” or my favorite – “THE BEST ONE YET”.
Kimberly, thanks for stopping by. I’m a bit of a review fiend, but don’t post as many book reviews as I used to. Thanks for stopping by. I just visited your Kim’s Bookstack page on Facebook as well.
Jeri, I’m all for specifics and seldom see them. Something tells me there is a niche to be found in reviewing the reviewers. Just within the examples above “Repetitive Writing” beats the point to death, which is no doubt intentional and arguably clever but takes more time than necessary to get the point across. Specifics should also be true: I know many on the west coast who eat “supper” and many who order tea “bag out” In this case the reviewer, in trying to project worldliness, demonstrates the opposite.
Paul, great minds think alike! I tried to make a go of at one point for a series of posts, but my idea to review the reviewers never came together. You would be most excellent at such a task.
Reviews that aren’t specific usually earn an eyeroll from me. It almost passes those people off as either friends/family of the author (the loved it!) or trolls hopping on the hate wagon. Their opinions don’t hold much stock for me, and they get dismissed. Give me details or get out of my way. 🙂
Loni, love it: “give me details or get out of my way.” Helpful reviews don’t have to be long either. One solid paragraph will do. Sometimes for fun I like to read one-star reviews of classic novels.
Great advice Jeri. I only ever go to reviews for the specifics, not this was a good read or what lovely characters – type of review. If people think of books in the same way as product reviews they might do a better job. But excellent guidelines. Thankyou
A. K., I’m with you on going for specific reviews. I’ll often read one or two three- or two-star reviews on a book and learn what I need to know. Thank goodness for reviewers who take the time to note the strengths and weaknesses of a book. Coupling a good review with a quick glance of the sample pages has saved me from many boring books.
Never read the book Jeri and after this post likely never will. I know your post is not about the book but found your examples of review writing highly engaging and learned a lot; some things new others were more assurances. I never understand why some write and repeat. There are so many available words and phrases out there, and so many ways of getting them. Repetition does kill the flow.
Tim, what? You mean you aren’t simply yearning to read Fifty Shades after the glorious treatment it’s been given here?
Bravo Jeri! Thanks so for this post. I would rather get one honest review from a reader than a thousand “awesome” reviews from friends who I know haven’t read the book. But the pressure is on writers to pressure everyone they know into posting reviews – and that’s why there are so many non-specific reviews.
Jan, I tried pestering my family to leave reviews, but didn’t have much luck.
Although I do not write product reviews, you post does give me ideas to make my posts informative. Avoiding repetitive writing and weak characteristics will help readers enjoy posts. I’m just trying to improve my writing. Thanks!
Edward, but you do review the merits of musical artists. In a way that is similar to reviewing a product.
This perspective is great, if the reviewer is someone looking to broaden their skills. But you might be asking more of the average person writing a review than they are willing to do. Writers may not like the simple reviews the average reviewer leaves but the average reviewer is just that, average. They are people who are leaving reviews because they want to let the world know that they liked something. Or in the case of haters, they are joining in on the hate train.
If you want to read in depth product reviews, you go to a book reviewer or a movie reviewer or what have you. Personally, when I want to find out that type of information I go to a verifiable source. And the only thing I even consider worth doing it for is a big ticket item. Books are a small investment. If I am out a few bucks for a book thats only a few minutes of time and a couple bucks. But something like a car or a computer, where it is an investment of my time and money, I will find a reviewer that makes it their business to explore a product in depth.
The product reviews on Amazon really only have weight when you condsider the source. If you don’t know the person doing the review, don’t know their likes and dislikes then they are meaningless, no matter how in depth they might be. They are akin to a friend telling you to go see a movie they just saw. Do you share similar tastes with your friend? If not then their opinion on the matter is meaningless.
Jon, books may be a small investment monetarily, but not a small investment when it comes to time. A good review goes above mere opinion and focuses on specifics. That’s just good writing. I guess that’s why I get a bit miffed at the average review.
Outstanding post! I’ve come to ignore book and product reviews for the very reason that they nothing other than a one word or one line hate or love statement. That’s why I always read YOUR reviews because I get a true sense of whether I’d like or not like the book. I don’t rely on reader reviews as much as the professional ones…even those, you have to understand the source.
Jacquie, what really gets me is when everyone seems to rave about a bestseller like Life After Life. It got plenty of good and bad reviews. I really wanted to like it, but couldn’t. You betcha my one-paragraph review stated my case. I would never just say I hated a book. There’s so many more creative ways to express that.
I’m not convinced that James thinks Britishisms make her sound high minded as much as she is British and never bothered to listen to Americans talking before writing about them! Totally on board with the rest of these comments though, I suffered through the first book after a friend recommended it (and I admit, I was intrigued to see what all the fuss was about!) and the repetition and the bad sex pretty well scarred me for life.
I have to admit though, I am rubbish at writing reviews. I blame the years I spent working as a script writer, when my job was to write development reports on works-in-progress. I reported on a lot of very, very bad scripts and more often than not recommended a page one rewrite (preferably with a different writer). It nearly ruined reading for me, before I forced myself to reset my brain to “enjoyed”/”didn’t enjoy” when reading for pleasure – little did I know that just a few years later I would want to review friends’ work on Amazon, and would struggle to say much more than, “enjoyed”/”didn’t enjoy”!
*script reader!
I also work as a script writer, but that isn’t relevant to this comment! 😉
Claire, your comment really strikes a cord with me. I often wonder if I can slip into pleasure reading mode much any more. The inner-editor is always on, but if I can find well-written books, the inner-editor then goes away. I just wish there were more well-written books!
This is a great reminder for those who review books. I have done a few reviews, but I heard Amazon is removing author book reviews. As for product reviews, I can’t recall writing one.
I should though. I rely on reviews on TripAdvisor, and I don’t even write reviews there either. Can someone say, “Lazy.”
Denise, maybe just a little lazy 😉 I’m the exact opposite. I review so much stuff on TripAdvisor. If there were more hours in a day, I would have a product review blog.
A review should give us a general background and the main ideas of the plot, right… Of course without telling us too much … No spoilers…Even though they tend to be fragmented insights on particular sub topics of the book.
The three First reviews you have posted above are eloquent and quite witty… But they are related to personal thoughts on the book rather than to the book itself… They missed the woods whilst staring at the trees.
Very interesting post, Jeri…
Best wishes, Aquileana 🙂
Aquileana, Amazon is a treasure trove of all kinds of reviews. I wonder if I am odd or not in that I like to read lots of them sometimes in relation to my favorite books. I guess I just like seeing all the interpretations people can get out of the same text. Reader response theory would be a good topic for a post sometime.
**Bad sex. “Down There?” are you kidding me? It’s called a vagina. Grow up**
HAaaaaa
SUPERB!
I once reviewed a book that I hated. My last sentence was: “In the end, I wanted all of the characters to die. I didn’t care about any of them. The best part of the book was turning the last page.”
Love your posts! x
Kim, that’s quite the final line to a review. What was the book about?
It was called, The Elegant Gathering of White Snows.
x
Great idea to use excerpts from “50 Shades of Grey” reviews because they are HILARIOUS!
When I leave a review for a book that isn’t my cup of tea (bag out) genre-wise, but is otherwise well written, I make sure to say that, and give the author props where they’re due, even if I didn’t love the book.
Laura, I do the same thing as well when I leave a review when a genre doesn’t necessarily float my boat, but the writing is still good in general.
Agree with you completely, Jeri, that book reviews have to be about specifics and not generalise.
Catarina, I bet you write great reviews because you have such a great critical mind.
Jeri – I hate to admit it but I’m one of those who soften up my reviews. I’m a bit of a softie and look at it from the writer’s point of view – got to make them feel good – but don’t consider the readers, who, based on my reviews are not going to be getting what they expected. I WILL CHANGE MY WAYS. Thanks.
Lenie
Lenie, the tendency to soften reviews is quite common. I always to be honest, which includes discussing strengths as well as weaknesses in a book.
If I am buying a book to read for pleasure I really do not put much stalk in customer reviews. I just read the book description to make my decision. Reference or ‘how to’ books are the ones that I tend to rely on customer reviews. I agree that it is important to put in details as to why you do or do not like a book.
YOU are a great reviewer. I do know that. I don’t put a ton of stock into customer reviews on Amazon and such, mainly because they’re not good reviews and I’d rather just read the blurb. If it catches me, it catches me. If it doesn’t, I pass. Most of the time I get my best book referrals from friends.
Beth, so what’s a good book you’ve read lately that you think I might like?
Be specific is such great advice for any writing. When it comes to reviews, I rely on it. I tend to avoid books that have poorly written (non-specific) reviews on either good or bad sides. Thanks.
Great points, and they definitely apply to all types of reviews. My husband does a lot of online research (he’s a techie) before buying any gadget and he has a finely tuned internal algorithm for discarding useless reviews. But when they’re done well, they’re so helpful!
Meredith, your husband and my husband would probably hit it off in the finely turned internal algorithm department when it comes to discarding reviews. Sometimes we’ll be in store, and he gets out the phone and shifts through reviews on the spot. Ugh.
I really laughed at what you have written. This is true that the reviews must be precise and specific about the subject of the book.
Many times I come across reviews that do not give any information and just of no use.
I was wondering , why each word was repeated so many times … what can be the reason behind… may be any policy by someone…
Andleeb, I’m glad you saw the humor in my selection of review excerpts 😉
Andleeb, I’m glad you saw the humor in my selection of review excerpts 😉
Hi Jeri; i love how you boil it down into a few key points. I also think it was great strategy to emphasize that the same approach applies equally well to product reviews. I imagine more people request posts on how to do product rviews than book or movie reviews. keep up the great work, max
Max, product reviews definitely steal the show over book or movie reviews.
Being specific is a great skill for reviews and communication in general. My former boss was good at big picture thinking, but wasn’t able to manage well in giving specifics of expectations and priorities.
Christina, for some reason it’s really difficult for some people to communicate and write in specifics. It really is an art from that takes lots of practice.
I’ve tried my hand at a few movie and concert reviews on my blog and realized how difficult they are to write in a way that might actually be helpful to people. I’m also a fairly prolific TripAdvisor reviewer as my way of “giving back” to that community for all the hotel and attraction reviews I read there when doing my travel planning. There are a few product review threads that have gone viral on Amazon that literally had me laughing out loud, in bed, much to my sleeping husband’s annoyance. One was for some type of sugar free candy that apparently caused some people extreme flatulence and worse. I’m grinning just remembering the clever and hilarious reviews people posted. Another produce that brought out some excellent comedic writing was for a pen designed specifically for women.
Suzanne, I’m quite an avid contributor to TripAdvisor as well 🙂 I know what you’re saying about those Amazon product reviews that have gone viral. I love them too.
Jeri,
Specificity is a huge deal! As an author, I hate when people tell me I did not like your book, or I would not write about that.
Great! Not, can I review your thoughts. Why? Your analysis of 50 Shades of Grey is great, because it shows people the exact problems with the book.
Looking forward to etiquette #3!
Andy
Andy, thanks for stopping by. I had a hard time limiting myself to only providing five examples of reviews posted on Amazon of Fifty Shades of Grey 😉
That was brilliant and hilarious!
I tried reading Fifty Shades, no idea why except an overwhelming sense of not wanting to be left out, and I just couldn’t do it. It was so awkward and I simply couldn’t get captured. After my attempt I kept asking people why they read it and all I could figure out was that we were all trying not to be left out. If one of the early reviewers had used your approach, thousands of us could have been spared. 🙂
Debra, I read Fifty Shades on a car trip since I needed an easy read. I may have finished the first in the series, but didn’t feel compelled at all to read the other two books in the series. The number of parody books that have been released since is quite mind-boggling.
Love the examples you gave. I used to do book reviews, for just 2 years. The company had a format that they wanted us to follow and guess what – it called for specific examples! Up to three was preferred. So thank you for clarifying the how tos!
Patricia, specifics really do help make or break a review.
Very thoughtful advice, Jeri, and something most people don’t think about. I think one of the main purposes of a review is not only to share with potential readers but also the author. So it’s important to get to those details that helped make it a great book, and be specific with what could have been improved. And to be quite honest, I’d much rather read one of your book reviews than FSoG!
Krystyna, I think almost every book can be improved, but that’s the just the editor and never-satisfied writing in me speaking. Sometimes, I wonder if I’ve forgotten how to truly read for pleasure sometimes 😉