{"id":1472,"date":"2013-08-26T18:12:59","date_gmt":"2013-08-27T01:12:59","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.dianastevan.com\/?p=1472"},"modified":"2013-11-08T20:58:54","modified_gmt":"2013-11-09T04:58:54","slug":"the-knockdown-punch-of-readers-reviews-on-goodreads","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.dianastevan.com\/uk\/2013\/uncategorized\/the-knockdown-punch-of-readers-reviews-on-goodreads\/","title":{"rendered":"The Knockdown Punch of Readers’ Reviews on Goodreads"},"content":{"rendered":"

A recent post by Porter Anderson on Jane Friedman’s blog<\/a> caught my eye. In this article, entitled, When Bad Things (Seem To) Happen on Good Sites<\/strong>, Porter writes about the recent drama over one author\u2019s negative experience on Goodreads<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"IMG_2228\"

Tofino, Vancouver Island, British Columbia<\/p><\/div>\n

It got me thinking about the power of words\u2014the author\u2019s and those of the readers who critique\u2014and how they can make or break an author\u2019s career. When readers post negative comments about a writer\u2019s work, it\u2019s not surprising that the writer retreats, like the one mentioned in Porter Anderson’s post<\/a>.<\/p>\n

When I was in Tofino<\/a>, on Vancouver Island, a few weeks back, I witnessed a sea anemone pull its beautiful green extensions inward when poked gently with a stick. It did what it could to protect itself. It couldn\u2019t fight back, so it retreated, much like writers do when their very words \"IMG_2233\"<\/a>are given a bad review.\u00a0 It\u2019s hard to stand up after a knockdown punch from critical bullies without looking like you\u2019re egotistical or na\u00efve or bitter or someone who can\u2019t take their lumps (whether they\u2019re true or not).<\/p>\n

Not every book is a winner nor does every book deserve high praise. I have no problem with less than stellar comments about books and take readers\u2019 reviews with a grain of salt. I do take more seriously literary critics\u2019 reviews, but even here, I haven\u2019t always agreed. And like taste in anything, we readers\u2014I\u2019m an avid one for what writer isn\u2019t\u2014can be particular. I\u2019ve read books that have been given the top awards and yet, for whatever reason, they did not register with me. I\u2019ve read others that I’ve loved and wondered why they\u2019d been overlooked. For me, the answer lies not only with the quality of the prose and the story, but also with the subjectivity of the reader.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s not unlike going to an art gallery and staring at a painting of note and wondering what I’m missing. \u00a0Is it my lack of understanding of what makes a painting great? Or is it hype that\u2019s made it one that\u2019s garnered all the attention?<\/p>\n

But back to badmouthing on Goodreads. There is such a thing as kindness. How the critique is given makes all the difference.\u00a0 I rarely give five stars to a book ***** <\/b><\/span>and don\u2019t give less than three ***<\/strong>to any. Those books that I believe (and that\u2019s the point, huh, it\u2019s only my opinion \u2013 one person) deserve less than three, I don’t even mention. Most of these I couldn’t finish for obvious reasons.<\/p>\n

Which brings me to what I\u2019ve been mulling about, which is whatever happened to \u2013 if you can\u2019t say anything good, don\u2019t say anything at all? <\/i><\/b><\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A recent post by Porter Anderson on Jane Friedman’s blog caught my eye. In this article, entitled, When Bad Things (Seem To) Happen on Good Sites, Porter writes about the… <\/p>","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[1,4],"tags":[248,78,254,97,375,542,543],"class_list":["post-1472","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","category-writing","tag-books","tag-diana-stevan","tag-goodreads","tag-jane-friedman","tag-literary","tag-porter-anderson","tag-reviews"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p1LuVB-nK","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":806,"url":"https:\/\/www.dianastevan.com\/uk\/2012\/writing\/for-the-love-of-books\/","url_meta":{"origin":1472,"position":0},"title":"For The Love Of Books","author":"Diana Stevan","date":"10 \u0421\u0456\u0447\u043d\u044f, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"Two writers--Rosemary Carstens, editor of the online magazine The Feast, and Shari Green, a Y\/A author who writes compelling prose\u2014recently sent me this video, which enthralled me for obvious reasons.\u00a0 Even with the advent of e-readers and tablets, books are still some of my favorite things, and libraries and bookstores,\u2026","rel":"","context":"\u0423 "Art"","block_context":{"text":"Art","link":"https:\/\/www.dianastevan.com\/uk\/category\/art\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.dianastevan.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/01\/images.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":2576,"url":"https:\/\/www.dianastevan.com\/uk\/2016\/writing\/writers-festivals-and-more\/","url_meta":{"origin":1472,"position":1},"title":"Writers Festivals, Libraries, and More","author":"Diana Stevan","date":"15 \u041a\u0432\u0456\u0442\u043d\u044f, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"North Shore Writers Festival April is turning out to be quite a month for a writers' festival and more.\u00a0The month\u00a0begins with my book launch of The Rubber Fence at the\u00a0Campbell River library\u00a0on Vancouver Island and\u00a0continues at the Lynn Valley library for the North Shore Writers Festival. 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It\u2019s a curious line because Blanche is not great at assessing strangers, and the only\u2026","rel":"","context":"\u0423 "Books"","block_context":{"text":"Books","link":"https:\/\/www.dianastevan.com\/uk\/category\/books\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"kindness of strangers","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.dianastevan.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/OIP-1.jpeg?fit=474%2C720&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":2794,"url":"https:\/\/www.dianastevan.com\/uk\/2016\/books\/homage-to-booklovers-everywhere\/","url_meta":{"origin":1472,"position":3},"title":"Homage to Book Lovers Everywhere","author":"Diana Stevan","date":"9 \u0421\u0435\u0440\u043f\u043d\u044f, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"National Book Lovers Day When I read that there was such a thing as \"National Book Lovers Day\" in the USA (August 9th), I decided to re-blog a post I did four years ago, titled \"The Love of Books.\" Back then I wrote, \"with the advent of e-readers and tablets,\u2026","rel":"","context":"\u0423 "Books"","block_context":{"text":"Books","link":"https:\/\/www.dianastevan.com\/uk\/category\/books\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"National Book Lovers Day","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.dianastevan.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/08\/Shipping-News.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":3599,"url":"https:\/\/www.dianastevan.com\/uk\/2018\/writing\/an-authors-nightmare\/","url_meta":{"origin":1472,"position":4},"title":"An Author’s Nightmare","author":"Diana Stevan","date":"19 \u041b\u044e\u0442\u043e\u0433\u043e, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"I had no ordinary nightmare. 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