What goes into a
great book review, Kathryn?
First, to write a a
great book review, ideally, you should like the book you are writing
a review about. This doesn't always happen, but it is an ideal situation. You
should have an excerpt, as well as some background information. What makes the
story different? Better? What type of book is it? What is the author's
background? Is it fiction? Non fiction? A review should
list the publisher, the price, and where it can be purchased.
What else should you
include in the book review?
You should put in an excerpt or
two. As far as an excerpt goes, make sure you put the excerpt in
quotations - and note that it is an excerpt. Choose an excerpt or two that is
not too long. When you are reading a book, you will already be
hooked by the passage you are excerpting. But a person reading the book review,
isn't already hooked. And you want to make sure you hook the reader in the review
itself. So a passage that may take three pages to fully develop may
be a great read in the book, but it is too long for a review.
You may find that you can begin with
an introduction then excerpt a few lines....then use an ellipsis... and
then continue. If you find you need to summarize what is happening between the
first part of the excerpt and other parts that you are quoting, you may want to
use an Editor's Note: Do this by inserting a Bracket then [Ed. Note: colon,
write your remark, then close bracket, to indicate that the words
are yours.] Then continue with the excerpt in quotation. Sometimes, it is
easier to use a colored font for the excerpt - a blue, for example, and to put
it in a block quote with the heading BEGIN EXCERPT, and END EXCERPT.
Not all sites allow for colored
fonts or bold text. You might want to perhaps an introductory
passage of the book - the set up in a fiction book - and then perhaps toward
the middle - or the complication - but not the climax, black moment, crisis -
or resolution. not to spoil the book. In a non fiction book, you might want
to write about a beginning chapter and then include some pertinent
information from the middle of the book, sometimes it is helpful to include
some chapter titles.
What should the
reviewer do in case they find they really cannot recommend the book? Should
they 'pan' the book, or simply not review it?
Well, you shouldn't pan the
book if you simply do not like it. Keep in mind a few points. If you
simply do not like the book, then you have to remove your subjectivity
from the book. If it is on a topic that you might not know a lot about, for
example, history, science, or any other topic you might not feel that
comfortable in, you might want to decline the review and to return
the book so it can be given to another reviewer. If that is not
possible, then remove your subjectivity from the book. Write the review based
on how well you think the author has accomplished his or her goals.
This can be easier to do with
non-fiction. In nonfiction, whether you like the book or not,
and whether you know something about the topic, Look at the
Table of Contents, the author's bio, research the author and see what else he
or she has published, and what his or her background is. If this is the
kind of book the author is an expert in, chances are the author has done a
pretty good job here.
Find passages in the book you enjoy,
even if you find it is difficult. Be sure to state in your review that
you usually do not review or read this particular type of book, and that all
reviews are subjective. What may be exciting to one reader or reviewer may be
dull to another reviewer, and so on.
Don't 'pan' a book simply
because you don't like or read that type of book. Base your review review
on quality of the book - primarily on quality of the writing and or research.
If it is a book aimed at a different
audience than you - for example, a children's book, or a teen, or middle grade
or YA - see if you can find someone o that age group to read it to, or if they
can read it themselves. What we grownups might find corny or dull might be a
different story to a child or a teen. This is also true for different genders,
age groups or different socio-cultural groups. It is important the review speak
to the target reader. So, if you're not the target reader, find that reader.
If it is a fiction book and you
think the story development is strong or if you think it is weak,
be sure to point out those passages and why you think story development or
characterization is strong or weak.
Trust your instincts. You are a
reader. Any reader has valuable insights. A reader doesn't need to be a
professional critic to have valuable insights. You know when the phrasing is
excellent or when it's cliched. You know when a character works. And when it
doesn't. If you're turning the pages as you read, and you can't put down the
book. Well. You know you've got a great book in your hands.
How long does it take to
write a book review?
Writing a book review takes a
few hours or a few days. If the book is nonfiction, read most or all of
it. If it is fiction, read all of it it. If you do a good job on the
review, you will have served the audience well by helping them decide
whether or not they want to buy it and also by helping the author.
What are some of the examples of your book
reviews, Kathryn?
I have 68 reviews up on
Amazon. A few of them are:
Harvard Medical School Workout Workbook: 9 complete workouts
to help you get fit and healthy
by Jonathan F Bean M.D. M.S. M.P.H.
Unpacking the Boxes: A Memoir of a Life in Poetry
by Donald Hall
Notorious Rake, Innocent
Lady
by Bronwyn Scott
The Liar's Diary
by Patry Francis
The Scent of God
by Beryl Singleton
Bissell
What is your
educational and professional background?
I majored in English Literature at
McGill University. I studied the classics, the medieval period such
as Chaucer, the Renaissance, which includes Shakespeare
and European Literature of the Renaissance. I continued studying
English Literature through the 19th century - The Romantics, Keats,
Byron, Shelley, then Dickens, the Bloomsbury Group, Virginia
Woolf, and early modernists, such as D.H. Lawrence. I also studied 19th and
20th century European writers, as well as American writers, like Twain,
Faulkner, Fitzgerald, Hemingway, Steinbeck and many American poets.
I did some Master's Work in English
at McGill, and was working on Donald Barthelme's Snow White, which is a
retelling of the old Snow White. Pretty much our modern American folk
tales are retellings of older European folk tales. King Kong is Beauty and the
Beast. Disney of course takes the Grimm Stories, which are based on
Ancient oral stories, and changes them a bit for an American audience. Disney's
Cinderella is a modern rendition of a very old tale that began in 9th
century China.
How did you get
started writing book reviews?
I was working on the Snow
White manuscript when I happened to be offered a freelance job writing
book reviews for the Montreal Gazette. I did this for a year. One of the
books I reviewed was Surfacing by Margaret Atwood, another was about Sacco and
Vanzetti. It was there I became aware of the power that newspapers and the
media have to spread the word.
After you wrote book
reviews, then what did you do?
I then did an internship at the
Globe and Mail in Toronto, in the music and drama department. This was also a
fabulous experience. There was an exhibit of Posters from Poland. This was
during the Soviet era, and so the posters reflected human suffering under
oppression. Sometimes a stark, grim beauty that deeply touches the
soul arises out of oppression. Also, I saw the dress rehearsal
for Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat. Toronto was then and still is
a leader in the arts. And of course, Second City Toronto is where most of
the SNL crew comes from. I had a telephone interview with the then director of
Second City Toronto. SC is an improv group that began in Chicago.
After Toronto, I resumed work on my
master's and came to Boston to do research in Early American Lit. Harry Levin,
a Harvard scholar, put forth the theory that one of the earliest American oral
stories is still being 'talked about' today. This story. involves what we
in Boston call the Charlie Card. If you've been on the T, our Subway, we used
to use tokens, but now we have a 'Charlie card.' This of course comes from the
song in the 70s, Charlie and the MTA "He'll never return, No, he'll
never return"....That song was most likely based on the
earliest American oral story that Levin mentions, about a man in
Boston on horseback who kept getting lost. This story began
circulating around 1630 when people had been here only 10 years. He went
from Boston to Charlestown and back and never found his way
home. Newcomers who drive in Boston frequently get lost, and
think this idea of getting lost or never returning back home is quite funny. So
you can see how stories begin and how they continue for hundreds of years.
Describe more of
your journalism background to us. You went to Journalism school, I believe.
At this time, after Toronto and
moving to Boston, I decided to not finish my MA in English, but to move
directly into journalism. I went to the Medill School at Northwestern in
Evanston, IL. Northwestern is an applied school - all of its programs
teach application, rather than theory. For a field like
journalism, you need an applied program. At Medill, we had daily deadlines
for a particular beat. This is how you lean the ABCs of any kind of
writing. Apply Butt to Chair. You Git R Done. Period. Then you move onto
the next deadline. Great, great, great life training.
What else do you write
besides book reviews? And if you had your life to do over, what would you
change?
I have written business and tech
journalism, copyedited a book on HTML for Addison Wesley Longman, consulted to
MIT in Marketing Communications, freelanced for IDG, worked for IDG for several
years in news and features as a reporter and then Senior Editor. I had a short
fiction story published in 2003. I nearly had a short fiction story published
in high school, but I was a sophomore and the creative writing magazine was for
Juniors and Seniors. But the story I wrote was judged by an independent judge,
who ranked mine in the top 5. So I was encouraged. If I had my life to do
over, I would get my manuscripts out sooner. The sooner we get them out, the
sooner we know our strengths and weaknesses. Right now, I am writing a couple
of contemporary romance manuscripts, and have some manuscripts on the back
burner, such as YA, memoir and perhaps paranormal romantic suspense. People
can reach me: on Gather at www.kathryneo.gather.com
