The pressure of reviews
Did you ever felt « invalid »/wrong after reviewing a book?!
I’m not one to read the reviews before reading a book.. it’s just when I’m either writing/finishing my own or i’ve finished the book already that I wanna see what others thought of it.. and then I happens to fall on negative reviews.
First, I’m left wondering what in hell were I while reading 😂 I mean, do we just have different tastes in general? Did I understood things wrong or some things got lost in translations, if applicable? The last one is one thing i’m particularly wondering when I see others pointing out problematic stuff; I’m baffled that I didn’t saw it and I get to wonder why I didn’t..
For a book blogger, I lack the ability to analyse a book for it’s content, it seems. I still possess the child-like behavior to just read and get swamped inside I book without really thinking about if it’s wrong or right— and i’m not sure if that’s a good thing or not. I go over quite lots of problematics or triggers I might not have thought about, though not on purpose.
While I do love that part, as we mostly wanna read for our enjoyment after all, I kind of feel guilty in a way as I fail to the basic « role » of book bloggers?! Because I find important to point out trigger warnings as fair as I can, and I sometimes needs to rely on other’s perception to be sure that I add all trigger warnings and/or representations; i’m still working on this.
Another thing i’m quite doubting myself on, is the fact *most* of my reviews remains between 4 or 5 stars. It’s a given that I give a lot of thoughts into which books I’m choosing to read and all – as of which most probably impact the fact that I enjoy most of them. And as I said above, I’m not analysing the book whenever I’m reading them, so it’s not something that have an impact it itself on my rating.
Although I did a few DNF-ed reviews over here before, I kinda feel odd about the fact that my rating mostly stays withing the same range. When really, it shouldn’t be a crime to like most books you read if you think about it, eh ?
Have you ever felt like this ?
Is there any other pressures or insecurities that I haven’t mentionned ?
20 thoughts on “The pressure of reviews”
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I stand by the fact that it is your blog. You write reviews and posts the way you want to. 1) It is your blog 2) if we all did it the same, it would be awfully boring, no?
I would agree with that, thank you!
This year, I’ve been more selective with what I read and trying to pick up books I will love so I’ve read a lot of amazing books! And like you, they have been between 4-5 stars.
Ahh that’s good to hear!
Like i know some reader (non-blogging) would see a tendency of 4/5stars and not trust the blogger’s reviews because « damn, all the same rating », but really, if we know our tastes good enough — why would we take on a 1-2star read on purpose? 🤔 like, who does that?
I feel this way sometimes myself. As to the 4 and 5 star ratings- I know people love negative reviews but I don’t know… I want to talk about the things I loved that I think other people will and there are some middle of the road books where I just can’t think of anything to say one way or another 🙂
Trigger warnings? Everyone is different and things bother people differently. I agree with Susan. It’s your blog you do you!
Thank you! Bit of a relief im not alone on that!
I mean, okay. If i’m reading something for a request of some sort and turns out it isn’t what I wanted at all and it sucks for me, i’d do a DNF review. But otherwise? I don’t usually pick bad books that I wouldn’t enjoy 🤷🏽♀️ it maybe lowers from a 3-4 and I’d expected a 5 but you know what, it were enjoyed in some way nonetheless. I don’t pick books iknow I wouldn’t like.
I had one book that I finish and just « eeerrrr…… » so no reviews 😂 I ended up un-hauling the book aswell when I changed my room and cleaned.
Yeah I just wrote a post about ratings… I tend to rate with 4 or 5 stars too Kristina! I don’t find this a bad thing at all especially if you just DNF books that you aren’t enjoying. It means you’d only rarely read on. I don’t agree with some of the problematic things that bloggers say are in books. I just don’t agree. Just because some people see differently than you doesn’t mean its wrong!
Thank you, that’s a good point!
ithink things like that can vary depending on someone’s background and such aswell.. just like we might adore something and find it SO GOOD and romantic while young, and reading back in your 20s you’d be like, YIKES. Or we might know it and not bothered.. i’m thinking specially on the taboo romance between brother & sister specially ..
Wonderful post, love! You’re not alone!! I have felt odd before too, when I noticed how many 4 and 5 star ratings I was giving my current reads! It makes me wonder if I’m just too easily wooed by a book. lol! I don’t think it’s an issue if most of your reads fall on the higher side of the spectrum. I personally think that’s a mark of being a great, analytical reader, since you are able to prematurely determine which books you’ll likely fancy! <3
Thank you!! ❤️
That’s a good point, because really – who wanna pick a book that’s NOT gonna be a high rating? 😨
Your blog, your review, and rating books higher just means you know what you like as my friends tell me, and that’s a good thing!!! I say stand by your reviews, not everyone likes the same elements 😀
Thank you ❤️ that’s very true though, we mostly don’t see/think the same things while reading a book either!
No two people read the same book; we all bring our own personal preferences and experiences to the reading table. There is nothing which would invalidate a reader’s opinion in my mind unless they are purposefully being a troll. Not everyone needs to read super critically, either! It’s your blog and you can review however you want to.
Regarding missing problematic things, it happens to all of us. We all come from different backgrounds and life experiences. I’ve read books before and loved them, only to find later that there was some problematic content in there that I missed. That doesn’t make my reading experience invalid, but it does open my eyes to other perspectives and helps me become a better ally in noticing the various ways prejudice insidiously creeps into the world without us noticing it.
Thank you, your comment was very appreciated Kal!
Seeing all the others within our community, it really seemed like I was alone in not being able to read critically 🙈 that’s also a good point, it doesn’t mean we need to throw our problematix books we loved away, right? We just need to be aware that okay, this might not be an okay thing to do and be aware of it.
I feel like you’ve described so much. But then I think about it as most people reading the books will lose themselves in the story so why not review it from that perspective rather than a full on analysis? I mean, when I read the full on professional analysis’s of movies it feels way too clinical and detached for how I feel when I watch them. But that’s just my 2 cents…
That’s an interesting point. In all honesty, I don’t even *know* how to do a book analysis and keep objective. Which is probably as I don’t have a literary degree nor is this my main language xD
But as you’re describing it, I don’t think i’d like or maybe even understand it either ..
I love and can relate to this post a lot, you are not alone at all. I tend to notice that I have a lot of 4 and 5 stars reads, which make me wonder if sometimes I’m just… well, not critical enough. Then again, I have decided to look at this from another point of view and to think that, I’m just good at picking the kind of books I’d enjoy, haha 🙂 as for the trigger warnings, problematic content and representation, I’m doing my very best to spot them all, but we’re all different and have different reading experiences, too. Sometimes we are missing out on things and that’s when, just like Kal said in her wonderful comment, the community is wonderful and eye opening on some things, too.
Lovely post! 🙂
Thank you Marie xx
That’s right! We are good at picking our books, no matter if our rating stays in the same place ahaha because well- sure it’s repetitive but then again who would want to read a bad book on purpose?? right ??
That makes me feel better actually, that i’m not the only one to sometime not spot them all, thank you !
I’ve never really felt like I’d gotten things ‘wrong’ with reviewing. It’s all subjective, each reader and reviewers opinion. It’s neat to me to see everyone else’s opinions. Heh, my pressure come from feeling I have to post a review for every book I read… Sometimes I’d just love to not, you know.
You’re right, though even if it is subjective it’s just .. what if I get it all wrong anyway?! I feel it especially for poetry, honestly, not so much for regular novels; as it’s more “up to your imaginations” and not written black and white.. in the end it’s not really the author’s intention that matter, but what the readers understood out of it, eh?
Well, to be fair if you don’t wanna review all of them – don’t! I think it’s only specifically important if it’s an arc or a review request.. If you bought it and it wasn’t provided and you don’t wanna write one ? Hell, just don’t. I had one book I just had NO IDEA what to say about it, so I skipped it x)