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Bad Reviews

I don’t really read reviews.  Sometimes I do – sometimes someone will send me a link to something, or a cutting, but generally speaking if someone’s actually sending me there, it’s probably a nice review, and my ego and joy overwhelms my sense of caution. What I tend not to do, is go looking for reviews.

Sure, usually reviews are lovely, and make me happy.  But mixed in amongst the nice reviews there’s usually also something that will begin, ‘reading this was a waste of my life’ or ‘can’t believe I even bothered’ or something of that ilk.  Objectively speaking, this is fine.  I know that not everyone will like my books – hell, there’s a fair number of books out there I don’t like.  Sometimes my distaste is purely about personal preferences in writing style – sometimes about content – sometimes formed from my political views. However, beneath every quiver at every bad review writers receive is the deeper, almost-unconscious fear: what if, having not liked the book, the reviewer doesn’t like me?  Writers tend to work alone and not get out much, and this can risk embedding the already fairly-human desire to be admired, liked and respected.  One review starting with ‘I don’t know what the writer was thinking’ can stick deeper than ten going ‘oh my word this was fantastic’.

Two things which further make me shy away from reading bad reviews.  Firstly, reviews are not criticism. Sometimes you might get a review saying something like, ‘I would have enjoyed this book more if the female characters had been more rounded’ or ‘this book was ok but the ending felt a bit weak and it wasn’t really my style of voice’ and that’s fine!  That’s almost brilliant, since it’s considered, judicious and acknowledges more than just personal inclination.  However, too often reviews can stray towards spouted opinion – ‘a dull, flat-footed shuffle through pretentiousness’ which, while it may sound great to say (bad reviews are often much easier to write than good ones) actually says nothing at all.  The second reason I shy away from looking at reviews too closely is the rise of the internet as a power of reviewing.  On the one hand, this is an amazing thing – everyone having the power to read and comment on a book is fantastic, is incredible, is How It Should Be, and I genuinely believe that this can enhance the conversation around books and the spread of reading hurrah!  Hurrah and huzzah!  Unfortunately, as a rare side-effect, you are now also somewhat more prone to getting reviews that simply read: ‘Dull.  Stupid.  Hated it.  No one should read.’

Alas.  This isn’t a review.  This is a piece of personal opinion that is pithy enough to wound a reading author, but also says absolutely nothing about the novel.  Attached with this is usually a star-rating too – one star, guessing by the content – and therein is another deadly trap.  How many two-star reviews are there in existence which read, ‘the book is interesting and I see why people like it but it’s not my thing?’  And how many people read, not the review, but merely the rating?  Books are hugely complicated and subjective things and the power to ‘rate’ them like a tennis racket is a potentially dodgy thing.

Nor do I do as I know at least writer does, and read bad reviews in search of things I can do better.  It sounds like a potentially noble endeavour, but once again the subjectivity of a book and the infinite number of different ways in which different readers can read it, mean I’m inclined to steer away from anything that might resemble crowd-sourcing.  Bouncing ideas around is great; doing research, meeting people, immersing yourself in conversation and life – all awesome!  If, however, you’re scouring bad reviews in search of ideas and advice, it’s probably time for your editor or agent to sit you down with a cup of tea and a kindly chat about life.

‘Kindness’ is an under-rated thing in this society.  We say ‘kind’ as if it’s somehow a lesser quality than ‘funny’ or ‘beautiful’.  Yet ‘kindness’ need not be dull, need not be a wishy-washy thing, but can be as simple as a bit of thoughtfulness in the face of adversity, or gentleness in the presence of bad news.  It’s good that books are reviewed, and it’s good that opinions are spoken out loud and are as wide, varied and interesting as possible – we need bad reviews for society to be diverse and thought to be free.  You’ll just have to forgive me if I don’t always read them….