On one of my loops, talk frequently turns to reveiws and reviewers. The comments vary from the “way to go girl” variety to the ever popular “ignorant cow.” And the more reviews I see, I have to wonder, do some reviewers get too caught up in analyzing the pieces of a book and miss the whole?
One of my friends recently shared with us a posting from a reader. Said reader “loved, loved, loved” her book. This same book was slammed to the point of bruising by a number of online sites. (yes authors bruise) Another author I know got some fairly mediocre reviews, but her book is selling gangbusters. What did these readers see the reveiwers didn’t?
If you read a lot of reviews, you start to notice patterns. Historicals get slammed for using the wrong title (as in His Grace, not book title). Things like goal, motivation and conflict are mentioned. Are these things your average book reader care about? I don’t think so. They care about the experience, how the whole book comes across. They aren’t sitting there with a working knowledge of The Hero’s Journey or The Perfect Historical’s Guide to Titles. They want to escape - to enjoy.
Look at The Davinci Code. How much was that slammed? How about just about any big seller similar to this book? They never do everything right. There is always a paper-cut-out character or an improbable plot point, but do most readers care? No, they are going along for the ride and loving it.
Now all of this rambling isn’t to say that we shouldn’t strive for good writing - the best we can do. I know I try to improve all the time. I see my flaws and try to improve them. But PLEASE don’t pass up a good book just because the hero wore the wrong kind of waistcoat for 1822. (Did they even wear wasitcoats? Probably not. Ah well…)
Note: This, of course, doesn’t pertain to all reviewers. Many do a fine job of giving an honest evaluation while keeping their reader hats firmly affixed to their heads.
