I just cannot give bad reviews

R

Rose65

Well-known Member
Location
United Kingdom
I love books and I revere authors. I often put good reviews but I have never given a bad one. I figure if I didn't enjoy a book that's just me, my taste.
I couldn't crush an author. Yet many people have no such scruples. I understand honest reviews are a right and a good thing but still, I just cannot destroy a person's self esteem.

This goes for reviews in general, I shop a lot on Amazon. If I have problem with an item I refer to the seller and always find it is put right. I couldn't destroy someone's business by saying bad things. Yet many people don't hesitate.
Am I too soft? Are others too quick to criticise?
 

You make a good point but sometimes you have to be emphatic, there are those who would have no qualms about riding roughshod over you. A tactic to make a point is to keep it jocular. Something like: "Don't give up the day job just yet." Another that I have used is: "If you work really hard I'm sure some day you'll reach the top of the bell curve."

Where we lived in London we had the neighbour from Hell. One day after a particular nasty rant, my wife put him in his place with: "You know what you are? You're the poster child for pro-choice." His bottom lip quivered, his mouth opened and nothing came out.

There's a very famous insult that has done the rounds, it supposedly started in the British House of Commons, between Winston Churchill and firebrand, Bessie Braddock.
Bessie to Churchill after a withering put down by him. "You Sir, are drunk"
Winston replied: "Yes Madam, and you are ugly, but in the morning I shall be sober!"
To be fair, that insult has been accredited to many, just Google: "You Sir,are drunk."
 
Rose65 said:
I love books and I revere authors. I often put good reviews but I have never given a bad one.
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I’m the same way. I always feel how can I judge a writer’s effort when I am not capable of making anywhere near the same effort. Not a rational thought I know.
I only know if I liked the book or not.
 

I would be honest with others about my feelings regarding the book because isn't that what a review is all about? It makes no difference that I cannot write a better book than the one I've read. Authors will know their work will be criticized. It's part of their job to deal with that isn't it? So I would chose to write an honest review.
 
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Rose65 said:
I shop a lot on Amazon. If I have problem with an item I refer to the seller and always find it is put right. I couldn't destroy someone's business by saying bad things. Yet many people don't hesitate.
Am I too soft? Are others too quick to criticise?
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I think the two to four star reviews on Amazon are helpful. If I see an item that is only 5 star and 1 star reviews, then I think that the 5 stars are probably fake. I particularly like the middle star reviews when they list pros and cons, because if the cons are aspects that don't matter to me then I'll buy the item (i.e., the lower stars don't ruin the company's business). But if the cons are about something that is pivotal to my decision, then it may hurt the business but it saves me my money. I think honesty is good (though I agree with you about if it is a book and it being largely a matter of taste and why crush the author).
 
I am more of a letter-writer (well, these days, an email-writer) because I want to give the company, service, person a chance to explain to me why they did what they did and to "make me whole".

I've found that starting off a communication with "YOU GUYS ARE A BUNCH OF #@&*%!$-HEADS AND I'LL NEVER BUY ANYTHING FROM YOU AGAIN!!!" doesn't get me anywhere.

Rather, I start out with, "I have been using your product, company, restaurant, service, ..... for years and have not been disappointed. In fact, I have recommended it highly to others. However, this time you have disappointed me by (fill in the blank)."

Then, I proceed to tell me how they can get me back as a customer. I never ask for much. It's a rare time that I don't get a coupon or a refund.

If I don't receive a response, then the gloves are off and I will post a public review, stating that fact.

That's my way...
 
MountainRa said:
I’m the same way. I always feel how can I judge a writer’s effort when I am not capable of making anywhere near the same effort. Not a rational thought I know.
I only know if I liked the book or not.
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Sorry, but that's not a very good analogy. You don't have to be a builder, to know if a house is poorly built....
 
chic said:
I would be honest with others about my feelings regarding the book because isn't that what a review is all about? It makes no difference that I cannot write a better book than the one I've read. Authors will know their work will be criticized. It's part of their job to deal with that isn't it? So I would chose to write and honest review.
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exactly that, and you're doing every other potential reader a favour by saving them money on something that they might ill afford in the first place...

I prefer the reviews that state what they found difficult..for example.. they might state that the print was tiny.. or they might say the author veered off the topic of the book in many places or repeated the same thing over and over.. etc.. then the reader can make their mind up whether they would enjoy a book like that..
 
HoneyNut said:
I think the two to four star reviews on Amazon are helpful. If I see an item that is only 5 star and 1 star reviews, then I think that the 5 stars are probably fake. I particularly like the middle star reviews when they list pros and cons, because if the cons are aspects that don't matter to me then I'll buy the item (i.e., the lower stars don't ruin the company's business). But if the cons are about something that is pivotal to my decision, then it may hurt the business but it saves me my money. I think honesty is good (though I agree with you about if it is a book and it being largely a matter of taste and why crush the author).
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I concur. In my experience, five-star book reviews on Amazon are usually die-hard fans of the author. There's nothing wrong with that, of course. And the one-star reviews are almost universally unhelpful, often consisting of one word, which doesn't exactly help. I tend to read the 2- and 3-star reviews for the reason you mentioned, @HoneyNut. They tend to be more thoughtful and include pros and cons.
 
Most of the year I read two or three books a week on my Kindle. I used to give every one of them five stars, but got to thinking how that wasn't honest at all. Now I try to give a rating that reflects the true level of my reading enjoyment. If a book is really rotten I just delete it knowing no comment is necessary.
 
I get requests all the time regarding my Amazon purchases. Since I read product reviews, especially about the more pricey items I try to give an honest evaluation in terms of pro and con.
 
hollydolly said:
I prefer the reviews that state what they found difficult..for example.. they might state that the print was tiny.. or they might say the author veered off the topic of the book in many places or repeated the same thing over and over.. etc.. then the reader can make their mind up whether they would enjoy a book like that..
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Exactly! Tastes in what constitutes a "good" book differ greatly with regard to content.

More useful to me are reviews that point out characteristics that might make reading unnecessarily challenging. Things like too-small print, overly long sentences or paragraphs, excessive use of foreign words and phrases (e.g., Agatha Christie), archaic language, and so forth.

These are the only type of book reviews that I read or write.
 

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