Ramblings-n-Writings

The question: Do you receive review copies of Christian books? If so, do you review them honestly? How do you handle it when you don’t like a book but are obligated to provide a review? Who do you see your first commitment being to in book reviewing (besides God)? Yourself? The author? Your readers? Does your review change based on the spiritual content of the book or is it solely based on technical or artistic merit? Have you ever had a negative experience with an author after giving them a negative review?

When I consider writing a review, I keep the following in mind:

A book review is a description, critical analysis, and an evaluation on the quality, meaning, and significance of a book, not a retelling. It should focus on the book’s purpose, content, and authority. A critical book review is not a book report or a summary. It is a reaction in which strengths and weaknesses of the material are analyzed. It should include a statement of what the author has tried to do, evaluates how well (in the opinion of the reviewer) the author has succeeded, and presents evidence to support this evaluation.

There is no right way to write a book review. Book reviews are highly personal and reflect the opinions of the reviewer.

As a receiver of both non-Christian and Christian books for review, I feel obligated to review books honestly and fairly regardless of the spiritual content. Just because a book is “Christian” doesn’t mean it should be treated any differently. In my opinion, the book market is one massive competition with the readers acting as judges.

I’ve been exposed to many music competitions and judging as an avid flute player. I’ve been on both sides of the competition too – performer and judge. As a performer, I expected the judges to be honest with me since that’s how I learned what areas I needed to improve and what areas I excelled in. As a judge, my goal was to give the competitor something they could work on and something they could be proud of. It didn’t matter if I liked the musical selection, the composer, or what the performer was wearing; I was obligated to honestly critique the performance.

The same is true of books. When an author writes a book, he is the performer. He is, hopefully, giving all he has in that book. However, he is also opening himself up for critique. As a reviewer, my position is the equivalent of the judge with the purpose of analyzing the book.

As a reader, I am always a little skeptical of books that receive 100% perfect reviews. In fact, when I look at a book on Amazon, I always read the reviews that score 1-4 first. Sometimes I feel like those reviews are the honest ones and I can trust them more than the perfect 5 score.

However, in “trusting” those reviews, I also realize each of us carry different life experiences with us. Those life experiences affect how we view a book. Just the other day, I was talking to a friend about books (imagine that!). Both she and her daughter are avid readers. While traveling to see her daughter, my friend began reading a novel by a popular Christian fiction author. After a couple of chapters, she had to put the book down. She was too angry to continue. Why? Because the book was about the exact same issues that her daughter was dealing with in her marriage. On the other hand, the daughter read the book and loved it because she immediately related to the situations and characters. Different life experiences equals different opinions.

Despite my analogy to competition and judging, I don’t feel like my first commitment is to the author. My first commitment is to book readers. They are the ones who are taking the time to read my review and decide whether they want to pick up the book or not. They want an honest opinion of the book. They want to know how my life experiences affect my opinion. They want to know if the book is worth their hard-earned dollars and valuable time.

As a reader, I’ve picked up quite a few books based on other people’s reviews. Some I’ve liked; some I haven’t. Anyone who reads a lot and discusses books with other people quickly learns that each individual has different tastes and what is good to one reader isn’t so good to another. That’s where the opinion of the reviewer comes in.

In fact, I read a fiction book about a month ago that received rave reviews everywhere I looked (like 100s of great reviews). I couldn’t stand the book. It just didn’t click with me. Since I never finished reading the book, I couldn’t write a review about it. If I did write a review, my obligation would be to let readers know not only what was good about the book but also that the book didn’t resonate with me and give my opinions on why it didn’t resonate.

In closing, I don’t think a review should ever be changed based on the spiritual content. The review should be based on technical and artistic merit. If the book contains overwhelming amounts of spiritual content not necessary for the plot, parts that I felt were distracting as a reader, then I may mention that in my review. If the book defies everything that I believe in, then my review will also mention that, but I won’t give a book a negative review simply because I don’t believe the same thing. The review is an evaluation of how well the author performed his job, not his personal beliefs or religious stance.

Related posts:

1. Faith ‘n’ Fiction: First Book
2. Faith ‘n’ Fiction: Great Book to Buy for Christmas
3. My Choice of Suspense Fiction
4. Biblical Fiction: Good or Bad?
5. My Thoughts on "Preachy" Christian Fiction

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