RARA-AVIS: Re: Half Priced Words and reviewing

From: Tony Burton ( tburton@crimeandsuspense.com)
Date: 30 Nov 2005


I definitely agree! If it's not enjoyable, you have to say so and why.

I received one to review not so long ago, that purported to be a crime story. Well, the actual crime didn't take place until the last 5% of the book, and it was a little vague as to how, the motive, or even exactly who. It was a great STORY up to that point, but not about a crime - but rather about the trials and tribulations of a kid in college. "Literary" fiction. But it sure wasn't a crime story. So even though I liked it as a literary piece, I wasn't going to review it on my ezine/website. It just wasn't appropriate.

BTW, I tried to go to those links, but they wouldn't let me see anything.

Tony Burton

--- In rara-avis-l@yahoogroups.com, "Joy Matkowski"
<jmatkowski1@c...> wrote:
>
> You can't just review: "This book stinks." You have to, at least in
my mind,
> explain why it stinks. That means you have to read the whole
stinking book.
> Here's an example of a book whose first 20 pages were enough:
> http://www.reviewingtheevidence.com/review.html?id=2985.
> That was a book that I was pretty sure I was going to find
interesting.
> Then there was this one:
> http://www.reviewingtheevidence.com/review.html?id=3076. The blurb
must have
> been really misleading for me to think I might enjoy it. If you
like that
> kind of a book--and I'm pretty sure no one here would like it any
more than
> I did--then it was well done, and I think I was fair.
> Anyway, eventually I figured I had spent too much time reading
and
> writing about books I didn't enjoy. I did discover books I wouldn't
> otherwise have come across that were real pleasures, but the costs
were way
> higher than the benefits for me. So now I just read other people's
reviews
> and buy what's irrestistible.
>
> Joy
>

------------------------ Yahoo! Groups Sponsor --------------------~--> Life without art & music? Keep the arts alive today at Network for Good! http://us.click.yahoo.com/7zgKlB/dnQLAA/Zx0JAA/kqIolB/TM
--------------------------------------------------------------------~->

RARA-AVIS home page: http://www.miskatonic.org/rara-avis/
  Yahoo! Groups Links

<*> To visit your group on the web, go to:
    http://groups.yahoo.com/group/rara-avis-l/

<*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to:
     rara-avis-l-unsubscribe@yahoogroups.com

<*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to:
    http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
 



This archive was generated by hypermail 2b29 : 30 Nov 2005 EST