If you peruse a selection of the
reviews on Amazon or Goodreads you will find that they are largely positive—as
in 4 or 5 star ratings. Considering that it is now, due to print on demand,
possible for anyone to self-publish with no upfront costs, can it really be
that the majority of books are “really liked” or “loved” by most readers? Or is
it that society is gradually conditioning us to avoid confrontation or
negativity in favour of a more positive and uplifting approach?
As an evangelical Christian I am
obviously in favour of encouragement and of trying to see the good side of
things. But shouldn’t we also be honest and say what we really think about
something? What value is it if we say that things are good when they are not?
What will happen to the quality of our literature if we follow each other in
enthusing about books that we actually found dull and monotonous in order to
fit in? Is that what is happening or is it that we’ve lost the ability to think
critically, having been instructed from an early age that we need to build a
person’s self-esteem through affirmation?
Hopefully, you can now appreciate
why this is an important issue worth writing about. This is my list of reasons
for writing honest book reviews.
1. Maintaining a good
standard of quality literature. This is particularly important with the
massive rise in self-publishing in recent years. If readers were honest, those
poor quality books that are badly edited or just not worth reading would be
banished forever.
2. Time is valuable.
How many times have you downloaded a book or picked one up cheaply in a
charity/thrift store only to read the first few chapters and abandon it? How
many books do you have waiting in your “to read” pile? How many other ways are
you wasting time due to not really knowing whether or not a book is worth
reading due to the lack of honest reviews?
3. Money is scarce.
E-books and the ability to “Look Inside” a book partly negate this issue as you
can “try before you buy.” But there are still some over-priced e-books out
there. And what of those who prefer paperbacks or who aren’t internet savvy?
Honest reviews prevent people wasting their hard-earned cash on something that
will inevitably disappoint.
4. Offensive
content. Standards are lowering across the globe as people depart from biblical
values. What was offensive twenty years ago is now considered acceptable. I
appreciate that readers will have different opinions on what is and isn’t
offensive. Wouldn’t it be useful to know in advance if there is bad language,
blasphemy, sex, violence or drug-taking in a book? There are various Christian
websites that evaluate movies but none that I am aware of for books. Readers
rely on reviews yet I rarely see comments about this type of content issue.
5. Authors want
them! Most serious authors want to know how they can improve their writing.
They want to know about content or editing issues. Changes are easier to make
now than ever. The pain of receiving a 1 or 2 star rating is somewhat negated
with an explanation as to why the
reader didn’t enjoy the book. Sometimes it will be unavoidable or a mismatched
genre preference—I have had non-Christians offended by the Christian focus of
my books. But most authors want to know anyway. One author contacted me after I
left a relatively negative review on Amazon to ask me to be a BETA reader for
her. She told me that I had raised all of the issues that she had felt
uncomfortable with when she had published the book.
6. Encourage
critical thinking. An honest and thought-provoking review may cause others
to re-examine their own position on an issue. My most popular review to date
was of the best-selling Christian book The Shack. Wincing at
the numerous 4 and 5 star reviews, I gave it 1 star due to the bad language and
erroneous theology. My review generated a great deal of discussion on Goodreads
which led to someone recommending a Youtube documentary examining the book in
light of Scripture. Surely it is good for all of us to be challenged in this
way.
7. Fostering
reliability. Readers still look at reviews when deciding what to read, but
how many are being put off by the grossly inflated statistics? If a book is
rated 5 stars it should be something exceptional, but many are not. This has
come about partly due to review swaps between authors who then cannot bring
themselves to be honest for fear of damaging their own chances of success. This
also occurs due to authors paying for reviews—yes, this does happen despite big
companies like Amazon clamping down. But I would suggest that readers could
easily over-ride these misleading and in some cases fraudulent stats by simply
being honest in their own reviews.
8. Increased success
for indies. Good self-published authors can be lost in the tide of drivel.
Readers become reluctant to buy indie books after a few disastrous purchases.
If only they could rely on the reader reviews they might take a chance on a new
author.
9. Bucking the
trend. Okay, maybe this is just me, but there’s definitely something
satisfying about drawing attention to a little known author after a great reading experience; or, conversely, departing from the acceptable path of popular
opinion by slating a “classic.” A word of caution here—only do this if it is
what you really think. Ulterior motives tend to expose themselves in the end.
10. It’s biblical!
I had to of course mention the most important point. We should be “speaking the
truth in love.” At times, that might involve contacting an author and offering
feedback privately rather than a public review. It might also involve
explaining publicly why a book is offensive or theologically inaccurate to
steer others away from it. It doesn’t generally involve remaining silent and it
definitely doesn’t involve giving an untruthful opinion about something to
please an author, blend in with the crowd, or to avoid being controversial.
Let’s be honest in our reviews so
that we can all enjoy our reading experiences.
Ephesians 4 vs 15
Rather, speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in every way into
him who is the head, into Christ
Proverbs 16 vs 13
Righteous lips are the delight of a king, and he loves him who speaks
what is right.
Ephesians 4 vs 25
Therefore, having put away falsehood, let each one of you speak the
truth with his neighbour, for we are members one of another.
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