| Author |
Message |
    
Harry Simenon
Unity Member
Post Number:
2000
Registered: 10-2003
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Saturday, August 16, 2008 - 04:00 am: |   |
I noticed something curious on Amazon. I know that several people here review books for Amazon so you might help me out.
Some reviewers give the maximum of 5 stars for (nearly) every book they review. Do you never get to read bad books? Or do you never post a review when you have read a bad book? Other reviewers rate books ranging from 1 to 5 stars as I would expect.
How does this work? |
Todd Hunter
Mindsight Moderator
Post Number:
3947
Registered: 02-2003
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Saturday, August 16, 2008 - 05:23 am: | |
I don't review very many books, but I imagine that answer varies from person to person. Some people will post a bad review, and some won't. Depends on the personality of the person giving the review...
Mindsight Moderator
Aston's Website
Aston's Blog |
Nancy Mehl
Mindsight Moderator
Post Number:
2771
Registered: 08-2001
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Saturday, August 16, 2008 - 09:16 am: | |
Harry,
I don't write bad reviews. If the book's bad, I just won't write a review. I've had to turn down a few books in the past. I feel bad about it, but I'm just not the type of reviewer who likes to slam people.
I don't review on Amazon a lot so the "star" thing doesn't really come into play for me. When I review for Mainly Mystery, I will do what I used to do on other review sites. If I'm not crazy about the book I will write a synopsis, but I won't recommend it. I also try to find something positive about the book. There is usually something good to say.
That's just me. I don't care enough about reviewing to hurt people.
Oh, and I have contacted authors privately if I thought I could tell them something that might help them. POV changes seem to be one of the biggest problems I've seen.
Nancy
MINDSIGHT MODERATOR
"The Ivy Towers Mystery Series" Barbour Books - 2008
www.nancymehl.com
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Laurel Johnson
Unity Member
Post Number:
4562
Registered: 01-2002
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Sunday, August 17, 2008 - 08:35 pm: | |
I don't review bad books. I talk to the author privately and explain why. I've refused to review quite a variety of books in my time as a reviewer.
Unknown writers have a hard enough time. They don't need someone like me wounding them. So if I can't say something positive, I say nothing at all.
Laurel Johnson
http://laureljohnsonblogs.blogspot.com
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Joyce Scarbrough
Unity Member
Post Number:
1316
Registered: 03-2004
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Monday, August 18, 2008 - 02:42 pm: | |
The only bad review I've ever left for a book is this one I wrote about THE WIND DONE GONE, the horrible, plagiarized, so-called parody of GONE WITH THE WIND.
Fortunately, I borrowed the copy I read of this book from the library, so at least I didn't lose any money in addition to the time I lost while forcing myself to finish it. I kept hoping there would be some redeeming quality to it, but no such luck.
A parody requires humor or satire, and this book has neither. It's nothing but self-serving, disloyal fan fiction with disjointed lapses into social rhetoric that undermines the likability of the very characters the author claims she wanted to redeem. And while she supposedly wanted to "explode the myth of GWTW," Ms. Randall's answer to the stereotypes in the original is to insult Irish-Americans and women by having her heroine proclaim such hateful generalizations as "all Irish are shiftless, lazy crackers" and "every woman I ever knew was a nig**r--whether she knew it or not."
Cynara, the book's heroine, is so mired in jealousy that her constant whining quickly becomes tiresome, and it's hard to swallow her petulant insistence that she is "a strong, independent-minded woman" when her entire existence is defined by her lifelong competition with "Other" (Her transparent name for Scarlett.) Cynara's character shows absolutely no growth over the course of the story. In fact, she becomes progressively more unsympathetic and unlikable.
As for the quality of the writing, the characters are cardboard and the dialogue is ridiculous. Ms. Randall can't seem to make up her mind whether her characters are slaves or Harvard graduates like herself, because she has the same characters speak like both groups. The narrative is florid and serves to further distance the reader from the rambling, erratic storyline that jumps around in time and tense so much it is annoying. The plot is undeveloped and full of holes, and the story is pedestrian at best.
And just in case anyone here thinks I was too harsh on her, here's what New York Times book critic Michiko Kakutani said about this book:
"A messy hodgepodge of styles and ambitions, "The Wind Done Gone" veers wildly between satire and sentimentality, political rhetoric and mushy dime-store melodrama. Ms. Randall's efforts at parody are decidedly unfunny, and her attempts at social commentary are often ungainly."
Normally, I would never trash someone's book, but hey, Southern Belles don't take lightly to somebody messin' with GWTW! Besides, as I said, she should have made up her own characters instead of stealing MM's!
~Joyce Sterling Scarbrough
True Blue Forever
ISBN 0-9722385-9-X
Different Roads
ISBN 0-9722385-3-0
Authors Ink Books
http://www.authorsinkbooks.com
Read the first chapters: http://www.authorsden.com/joycelscarbrough1
Waste time on Joyce's Blog: http://joycescarbrough.blogspot.com
Watch the trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kztz5e3XZeo |
Nancy Mehl
Mindsight Moderator
Post Number:
2775
Registered: 08-2001
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Monday, August 18, 2008 - 07:18 pm: | |
Great title, though. (S)
I just submitted the synopsis for the second book in my new series. (Yes, after you sell several books to a publisher they start buying them based on only a synopsis. Sigh. If anyone had ever told me this before it happened to me, I wouldn't have believed them! LOL!)
The first book in the series is: Missing Mabel. The second book's title is: Burying Binky. I love playing around with titles. (G)
Nancy
MINDSIGHT MODERATOR
"The Ivy Towers Mystery Series" Barbour Books - 2008
www.nancymehl.com
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Todd Hunter
Mindsight Moderator
Post Number:
3951
Registered: 02-2003
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Monday, August 18, 2008 - 07:23 pm: | |
Are you submitting a synopsis before the book is written?
Mindsight Moderator
Aston's Website
Aston's Blog |
Nancy Mehl
Mindsight Moderator
Post Number:
2776
Registered: 08-2001
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Monday, August 18, 2008 - 07:57 pm: | |
Yes. Scary, huh?
Basically, it's my best guess as to how the book will go. I don't even know who the killer is yet.
Nancy
MINDSIGHT MODERATOR
"The Ivy Towers Mystery Series" Barbour Books - 2008
www.nancymehl.com
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Todd Hunter
Mindsight Moderator
Post Number:
3952
Registered: 02-2003
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Tuesday, August 19, 2008 - 06:46 am: | |
That is scary...though I've started getting into a mindset where I develop the synopsis before I get too far into the book. Maybe that's a good thing, from the sounds of it.
Mindsight Moderator
Aston's Website
Aston's Blog |
Nancy Mehl
Mindsight Moderator
Post Number:
2778
Registered: 08-2001
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Tuesday, August 19, 2008 - 07:16 am: | |
When I started writing proposals (sometimes for two or three books in a series), I told my agent that I was a little concerned about it. Every book I've ever written changed from my first idea until the last page. She told me that publishers know that what an author proposes may change when its actually written. It's expected.
Nancy
MINDSIGHT MODERATOR
"The Ivy Towers Mystery Series" Barbour Books - 2008
www.nancymehl.com
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