Good morning !
First and foremost, I wanna say this is not about anyone or anything in particular; Just some things I’d wanna put my little grain of salt on and we just wanna have some fun here 🙂 You’re very much invited to share with me your #UnpopularOpinions aswell !
Let’s start !
About reviews;
- Things like mental health aren’t a “one size fit all” ; what’s accurate for one person might not be for another !! So we shouldn’t take someone else’s words for granted; On this case, I think we should go peak for ourselves, as only us can tell if we find it accurate to our personnal feelings or not.
- Bad review doesn’t equal a bad book.
- Please keep in mind the MC’s age !!! A teenager cannot have the same knowledge of life like someone is their 20s would – and yet I see it not being thought about in so many reviews.. it’s normal for the MC to seem childish or take the wrong decisions as a teen and us adult might overthink it and go “well, i dont understand how they could do that. the answer was clearly this” .. At that age, we probably would’ve done the same thing, as we didn’t knew all that we do today.
- Another thing we should keep in mind along with age, is the situation. Of course a person in a state of shock or grieving from a loss won’t act the same as an outsider who hasn’t been through watever situation .. It does impact on one’s mindset quite alot.
About our community;
- Though it’s a very loving community, i still feel we have some peers pressure sometimes (ie; classics, indies, diversity, etc.) ; Though it’s important we promote indie authors and diversity, I feel like it can feel as we absolutely have to and not because we want it … so it can create some problems with biased reviews or even positives-but-not-really as maybe we’d feel bad to say unlike everyone else and truthfully say we didn’t enjoyed it or something.
- Some novels qualified as “bad” by the general eye may make us feel like we aren’t able to enjoy them… I think it’s possible for us to enjoy a book even if the author has done bad things – I understand how some people choose not to support said author, but attacking a reader for enjoying one of their book is just way too far. On some cases, the reader might not even know !!
- I’m maybe one of the rare of us that’s not gonna get a bookstagram 😂 When I’m proud of my pictures, i’ll post them here and/or on twitter .. but I know I can’t keep going regularly with it, i’m gonna get mad at my lack of skills and throw stuff ahaha
Thoses were some of mine, what’s yours?
Do we have some similarities ?
Considering MC’s age can be difficult for me at times because people act differently. Some people can act like 30 years old when they’re a teenager and some 30 year old ppl still act like teenagers.
I understand what you mean how other readers can attack you either if it’s a book that you love and everyone else dislikes or everyone loves but you didn’t like. I wish people were allowed to say their opinions without attacking with comments like “it gets better”, “*insert book name* is so bad. How can you like it?” I try not to let those comments affect me but after hearing some thing over and over from TOG fans/ haters it made me like the series less.
I’m not gonna get bookstagram either!
True, right.. but in this specific case i’m thinking of a YA book where the MC is like 14-16 and the reader is pas their 20-30s. There’s got to be some things the adult will find stupid, but the MC is still just a kid, you know? They cannot have the wisdom that gets taken with age as well … they haven’t aged yet xD and writting it like it did wouldn’t be realistic.
aww that’s unfortunate! we gotta realize nobody really reads the same book; everyone will interpret the words differently and imagine different things. saying their opinion is fine, but like… gotta be respectful at least. Let people enjoy whatever they enjoy ! It’s simple..
yaaaas, atleast im not alone on that ! ahaha
It’s sad how people complain how stupid those teenagers are acting on books but the same ones would also complain that they’re not acting their age if they were written like they were 20-30
yeps. drives me nuts when I see it mentionned in reviews XD to be honest
I agree with having to read a certain book because the community makes it look important. I mean I get that the classics are great but am not gonna read it just because I have to. Maybe in the future who knows. Great post. I agree with everything 👍🏻☺️
Thank you !
hell even in school I never finished the classic mandatory reads so eh .. 😂 sorry guys, but I don’t think you’ll change my mind here ..
I agree! Though I love this community, it certainly feels sometimes as if we are not allowed to dislike a book or (like it if other people say it’s problematic because it doesn’t include all the diversity). I’m all for more diversity, we should absolutely hype those books!, but don’t understand completely tearing down not only a book, but it’s author and readers just because it doesn’t do everything right. I’m more for hype the good and diverse instead of tearing down what doesn’t reach it (obviously doesn’t apply if a book has a really problematic rep!).
And the mental health thing you mentioned is one of my pet peeves. I hate it when people say something is bad rep because they feel differently and discard all the people who say they enjoyed it because they have felt exactly like that. Sometimes I feel we value a negative opinion more than a positive one in our effort to prevent people from getting hurt.
Like, you can say that you’ve felt completely different and therefore didn’t connect without absolutely destroying a book or deeming it problematic and therefore unreadable to anyone else. (Though I think it’s already gotten a lot better!)
yes yes !! My problem though is I can’t identify problematic things too much .. but still, just let people enjoy the things.
Iknow, you see tens of people saying they related, but of ONE person say that’s BS nobody wanna read it because X said so … yall, it may be the best thing you’d ever read and related too- how can you know if you feel the same way as them ?
I’m happy this post got taken the right way, I was kinda scared to publish it to be honest ! ahah I feared to not get my points across in the gentle way that I intended to ..
Same!
And yes. They’re missing some potentially great books because they don’t think for themselves.
Oh I know how you feel. I have some discussion posts I’ve written but not yet posted because I’m scared they’ll be taken the wrong way because I’m not clear and gentle enough. But I think I’ll be brave this year and post some of them 🙈
You definitely got your points across very well!
luckily, you’d have as much good feedback as I did xx
Yes, yes, yes! I agree with all your points!
The MC’s age one is so on point! So many people read Middle Grade books and then classify them as childish. Umm, they were literally written that way. Shut up, Carol.
And and bookstagram! I SUCK at it. 😂 And being an overachiever, it makes me super mad that I suck at it. But I still have one anyway, just to have a presence on Instagram as well. 😅
Iknow, eh !!
the “shut up, Carol” made me giggle for some reason ahaha I wasn’t really expecting it 😂
I know me, id get just super mad, throw stuff and just.. not be a happy camper and feel bad about myself/my pictures/my capacities so eh.. let’s not do that x)
I agree on the pressure so, so much! I sometimes feel so bad because I don’t read many diverse books, or when I do and I end up not liking them, I generally stay quiet because I’m kind of scared to be labeled a certain way just because I didn’t enjoy that book. I think that while diversity is important, and it should be a topic we speak about more often, we also need to keep in mind that at the end of the day you don’t *have* to like a certain book to be a “good person”.
Me too ! We can also add that we don’t need to hate a certain book to be a “good person” while we’re at it.
instead of bashful negative reviews, I so much more prefer an objective “this book wasn’t for me/I dnfed it because …” and highlight specifically what didn’t worked for me, when someone else can find it perfectly fine because well.. we’re all different in our tastes and all !
Exactly!!
You make some great points here, especially when it comes to mental health and POC books not being one-size-fits-all. It always frustrates me a little when I hear how authors got something “wrong” just because it doesn’t match with one reader’s experience.
That’s one of my pet peeves aswell!
I whole-heartedly agree with these posts! In particular, the character’s age thing is important. My personal unpopular opinion is that John Green writes teenagers like they are 40-year-old philosophy PhDs. I’m okay with teen characters making what I believe are dumb decisions if it feels age-appropriate. Teenagers should sound like teenagers and not skew too young or old in their dialogue. End rant.
I am totally agreeing with you. Though the only John Green i’ve read is TFIOS
I absolutely agree that reading is such a personal experience (which seems to be where several of these are coming from) – which means everyone’s opinion may be different but they’re all valid!
I do think we still have a ways to go with regards to equality – both in books and socially, in real life – so I’m a pretty big proponent of reading indie/diverse books to increase empathy and awareness for experiences different than ours (perhaps especially when it makes us uncomfortable and/or challenges our preconceptions). that said, that doesn’t mean indie books or books featuring diversity are automatically good or necessary reads – sometimes they’re downright problematic too! – and not enjoying them is still valid. 🤔 though sometimes the review betrays ignorance or close-mindedness (eg, “couldn’t relate to this character because of their background” or derogatory comments about the culture, whether implied or actually written), and imho in those cases they should just keep it to themselves. obviously it’s a subject I’m very passionate about because I grew up not having many protagonists who looked like me or had a similar background, but that’s still tied to my own experiences, which are different from everyone else’s.
do I think there’s a right answer or a perfect solution, absolutely not. but I think even just having the conversations makes a difference, so thank you for contributing your voice!
Thank you!
For diverse Books I just say it’s not my place to say anything about the mc cause you know … im not the target. Nothing that I shall say about them would be really « valid » and necessary..
But you are right!
that’s definitely a fair view to take, and I applaud you for it ❤
OMG THANK YOU for the age thing. I get so angry when 20+ aged readers will review a middle grade or a book about teens and complain about the voice and tone. One time someone was like I found myself not relating to the MC. And I was like Ma’am you’re reading a middle grade. If you related to a twelve-year-old there might be a problem. So many times people forget that those books are not marketed for us. We can read them but we have to also understand and remember the age group.
Right!!!
Like for me id see myself from when I was that age at least!
the age thing!!! I make it a point in my reviews to remind myself and anyone reading my review that I’m not the target audience so I might not connect. I try to always balance my reviews with ‘this was not my cup of tea, it might be yours’ for things that aren’t problematic, anyways.
Yep, i do the same!
The age thing is spot on! I love Twilight when I was a teen and reading the book now as 25 years old working lady, let’s say that the book is now safely put on my drawer lol. But I still have a spot on the books and certain parts in the stories I like eg: there’s still a scene in the last book where everyone showing up one by one to support Edward and Bella. That scene left me a deep impression proven by I still memorize it till now.
That’s why I avoid YA (mostly) because I feel that the MC is stupid and immature which he/se rightfully should be because they’re still in their teens.
I dont have an issue reading it; im able to maybe not see myself at 24, but like « this is so! Me when i was younger!! » you know?
I really enjoyed reading this. I think it’s difficult to write a negative review about a diverse book because the fear of not liking it
Ahh thank you!
Yeah, i keep my negative review more « objective » and neutral… so it may pass a little better xD
As a teen reviewer, I found myself judging a lot of the characters in YA books since we’re about the same age. 😂 I’m turning 20 soon, though, so I should really start being more mindful of this! And I agree about the peer pressure–I find it so difficult to write negative reviews for diverse reads, and sometimes I can’t bring myself to write a bad review if someone recommended the book to me!
Just wanted to mention that although we might all read the same book we might all feel completely different about it based on a review and it might not necessarily be a *bad* review, it’s someone’s perspective after their reading experience.
I was reading a book and one of my blog buddy’s had written a review, I tagged it to read after I finished reading the book and writing my review. She wrote a good review but we just happened to have a different take on it.
They happens right?
Yeah, of course!
They say nobody « reads » the same book as we all have a different perspections 🙂
My take was more as in, dont judge a book badly just by reading a review.. better go see for yourself (same reason as above)
Yes to all! But especially that mental health rep. As someone who has dealt with my own mental health issues I never like to see people disregard a book or story because it doesn’t reflect on what they went through. No one experiences the same thing the same way and I feel like that should be taken into account. You never know what story might actually help a person.
Also I’m awful at Bookstagram never even made it public so now worries there I’d rather look at people’s pictures on a blog or such anyway.
I tend to dismiss reviews that go on and on about teenaged characters doing stupid stuff as a point of complaint. It’s normal teen behaviour i think, and is most likely portrayed accurately most of the time 😀
yep ! i agree !
I really agree with you – especially when it comes to the age of characters or reading whatever you want without peer pressure (although I like to promote classics, whoops, guilty).
I do not have a bookstagram either. I do not have the time to organize to take pictures and post them regularly. Sometimes I do post a book picture on my personal instagram, but that’s about it.
I barely even post on my personal instagram.. so damn, my bookstagram would do poorly 😂😂
Ah no worries! Promoting isn’t an issue. Im more thinking of the « WHATTT??! » and dark glances upon saying you dont read classics.. thoses kind of stuff
I see bookstagram, booktubing and book blogging all as three separate entities and I am glad for it as well. You don’t have to do more than one, you just do you. I also think that books can be good for other people – when I write my negative reviews I try to mention why the book didn’t work for me but how it can work for other people.
yes, three separate thing for me aswell !
and I do the same, instead of just bashing (even dnf books) I just explain how so-and-so wasn’t something I was fond of BECAUSE (…) and most of the time it’s just a genre im eh about. so if you like that genre, chance are it’d be great !
I so agree with the book vs. Author bit. Cancel culture is going too far in some aspects in my opinion!
Honestly, i had no idea the cancel culture was even a thing before i stumbled upon it on twitter 😨
It’s honestly so toxic.
It is! On the case ive seen specifically the person didn’t even KNEW the book they was asked to promote what problematic… just really enjoyed what the book was. 🤦🏽♀️ can we just.. stop that and let people do what they want?
Trust me, I’m with you! I think it promotes censorship which is way worse imho