How to Write a Book Review


by Doug Lewars




As a result, I try not to review too many new books but I will review a few because I think it’s something that I, and everyone else should do from time to time. I do, however, write a review for every book I read.


The reason for reviewing such works is because you will probably forget much of what you read within a few weeks and having a review allows you to recall a goodly part of what you forgot. Recently I received a ‘like’ for the review I wrote for a book that I could barely remember.


So what criteria makes for a good review?

First I always prefix my reviews with ‘*** Possible Spoilers ***’. That way, even if I don’t make reference to so much as a single character or plot reference, those individuals who are super sensitive to any sort of disclosure will stay away. Or, at the very least, if they don’t like what they read, and think I’ve described too much, they really don’t have grounds for complaint. It makes life simpler.



So, for example, after digging through a slew of ‘5’s for Tom Sharpe’s ‘Porterhouse Blue’ I came across a ‘1’ that started off, ‘This book is probably funnier if you haven’t actually attended a Cambridge college’. That’s a valid comment but it’s more about the reviewer than about the book.  Evidently this individual had some sort of unpleasant experience in academia and it shaped his perspective on Sharpe’s satire.


Take, for example, Fifty Shades of Grey. Now I don’t think that anyone would argue that this is a literary masterpiece.  For me, it was a did-not-finish and there are very few books that I start and then abandon. It wasn’t the sex that bothered me. It was the wordsmithing that seemed to be somewhere around the Grade 8 level – if that.








10 thoughts on “How to Write a Book Review

  1. For me, reading book reviews is like watching cooking shows. However eloquent the chefs are in describing the food, I still cannot taste or smell it. If I want to try a new recipe, I check out the ingredients and the prep in detail. It’s the same way with books. My taste may not be the same as a reviewers so I look at details such as story synopsis and character descriptions. I really appreciate it when a reviewer provides enough information for a valid analysis of the book.

    Liked by 1 person

  2. GREAT POST! Often we get hung up on how we viewed the book emotionally, we tend to forget a person behind the book took months/years to complete the book. While we don’t have to sing the praises if we disliked the book, being nasty isn’t okay either.


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