Authors are constantly - if with trepidation – seeking reviews for their published work. The longed-for 4 and 5* variety can be re-tweeted, re-posted, repeated, all helping to bump up social media visibility of a book and, with inexplicable algorithms, encouraging more sales.
It is, of course, a rite of passage to get the vague one stars: ‘terrible’ (why? tell me why? What was terrible? All of it or just some of it?) and the vexing ones: ‘the book didn’t arrive/download’. Or the, often amusing, two stars: ‘there wasn’t any cricket in it’ and ‘the main character is totally unbelievable’ – both of which I enjoyed with A Blonde Bengali Wife, a non-fiction travel memoir.
Learning not to agonise over the odd critical review – in the face of ten good ones – is probably a writer’s lifetime endeavour. You can’t please all of the people all of the time etc etc; it’s sometimes soothing to look up the thousand-plus responses to a high profile author’s novel and find that the book ‘everyone’ loves still has its haters.
Being on the reviewed side of the equation does, I hope, make for a kinder, certainly more balanced reviewer. As the editor of Lothian Life, I am lucky to review both books and lots of things other than books: restaurants, theatre productions, hotels…in a fairly minor way, it has to be said; I’m not running around the country at the expense of others, honest. And I’m very grateful for all the opportunities, which recently have been as eclectic as Castle Lennox at the Lyceum, cocktails at The Cauldron and M&S pies. What’s not to like?
Well, if I don’t like, I first of all decide if it’s all about taste – me feeling meh about something others might enjoy. That’s an easy review: find the person who has a positive response and include their thoughts (see the forthcoming Easter review of Lakrids by Bulow liquorice coated chocolate – a Marmite response if ever there was one!) If the problem is more fundamental, for example, a maggoty bug in your lunchtime salad, or six jam-filled doughnuts without even a smear of jam, then I’d talk to the manager, the PR company, rant a bit in private, but ultimately if the problem was acknowledged and addressed I wouldn’t write a bad review, I would choose not to write a review at all. I’m not saying that’s the right decision, it’s just mine. And if I went back to the maggoty café or got another batch of empty doughnuts, then the gloves are off!
The best thing about doing reviews, though, has to be trying things I wouldn’t usually visit/see/eat. My eyes have been opened by exhibitions or books or drinks that I’d barely give a second glance if left to my own devices. Love the experience or hate it, that widening of experience – and the confidence in sharing your own opinion – is invaluable in both writing and in life.
So the next time you read a book (and preferably like it!) consider writing a review. You don’t need fancy words (you’re not the writer, nobody’s reviewing you), ‘It was really good’ are, truly, the only words you need to make an author’s day.
Anne x
