Let's Talk About Negative Reviews

I started writing book reviews about two years ago, initially posting them on Instagram. I never thought anyone would be interested in reading what I had to say, but I suppose you don’t know for sure until you try.  My reviews are probably on the long side compared to the average, but if I’m being honest, I’m always astounded at people’s ability to summarise their thoughts so succinctly into the Instagram caption. I can’t do that; I need the extra words. My reviews are not exactly a summary of the book, and they’re probably better suited to those who have already read the book.

What is the purpose of [my] reviews, though? Believe it or not, rating the book and concluding whether it is good isn’t really the sole purpose, sometimes it’s not even the primary focus. I am nobody in this “industry”; I’m not an author, a literary agent, or a critic writing for a big publication (or for any publication for that matter). I’m just a person who likes books and writes about them, so it wouldn’t have been a surprise if nobody was interested in my opinions here. My reviews, as will be the case with anyone at this level on social media, must be entertaining. It can be entertaining because the reviewer is well educated on the topic, or the entertainment can be derived from the format they are published in. There are YouTubers and podcasters I subscribe to primarily because I enjoy the format, and the books they discuss are secondary concerns.

I find this aspect particularly difficult with positive reviews. I think you have to open up a little more, and that’s the route I’ve generally taken with them. When you like something enough to write about it, there is usually an emotional aspect to it. Even if it’s just the writing style you liked, it made you feel something that is more difficult to explain than if you found the characters annoying or the writing arrogant, for example. I’m not sure if anyone cares enough about me to indulge my personal stories and those reviews, but I don’t want the reputation of being someone who is just bitter and cynical, because it is obviously not true. 

I feel like there is almost a duty to make the negative reviews entertaining, to reduce the sting if nothing else. If I didn’t enjoy a book, I would probably not even talk about it; I would only really publish a negative review of a book where I felt I had something to say and/or I hadn’t seen anyone say it in the same way. My review of Second Place, for example, was written in a similar style to Cusk’s book, where the whole piece was addressed to Jeffers to mimic, and lightly mock, how often she mentioned him. A common comment in reviews I read shortly after the books’ release was that the reader didn’t really “get” the book, they didn’t understand it, but they still liked it, and that trend intrigued me. It sounded like a bit of a cop-out, and nobody else was pointing it out. It seemed like someone didn’t get a joke, but they didn’t want to feel left out, so they just pretended they got the joke. There’s no shame in not getting the joke, I obviously didn’t get the joke either, and if that makes me less intelligent, so be it. Saying that as plainly as I just did felt a lot ruder than it was intended, and I was also worried people may think it was about them when it wasn’t, so I disguised it in a heavily stylised review. 

I also didn’t enjoy Fake Accounts by Lauren Oyler, so I hid that among jokes. I could’ve just explained that I didn’t like the book, but I elected against that. I started the review with what I thought the book would be, with a twist at the end of the paragraph; “well, at least that’s what I was hoping for”. Hopefully that would’ve intrigued people more than if that first paragraph was already deep into my grievances with the book. There was a sprinkling of what I thought were jokes, or at least mildly amusing sarcastic quips, throughout the piece, and it was intentionally comically overly harsh. Without this, the piece just felt angry to me.

Around the time of that review, I was reading many books that were far out of my comfort zone, and I have acknowledged that previously. After a few of these, I felt I was beginning to build a reputation (as much as someone with only a thousand Instagram followers can build a reputation) as someone who is very negative and takes pleasure in being hateful, which isn’t the case. Interestingly, I noticed that there was more engagement in the negative reviews than the positive ones. The comments were much more focused, and the excitement was almost palpable; it was as though people had finally been heard; they didn't like something universally loved, and my negative review was a form of validation that they were not alone. 

I regularly get messages from people telling me they are interested in hearing my thoughts on certain books. There are few messages I enjoy reading more than these; the idea that anyone wants my opinion on something is incredible, but I am almost paranoid now that some people may just want affirmation, and I am the most likely to give it. I mentioned this on Instagram, and I had a flurry of replies with similar views. People told me that their negative reviews were their most popular, and the comments were populated with phrases like “honest”, as if their positive reviews were fabricated.

If we're honest, I'm also complicit, so this isn't a lecture as much as an open discussion. If I see a negative review of a book, movie, album, or television show that I didn’t like, I do feel a sense of validation. At times I found myself scrolling through Twitter after watching a disappointing season finale, looking for the one agreeing voice. In retrospect, it would’ve been disingenuous of me to give such reviews greater status and importance simply because I agreed with them. It is not easy, though; in a sea of positive reviews, that one passionate negative review will always stand out. However, it is no more valid than all the positive ones we easily discard and forget. After this, I will make a conscious effort to give equal consideration to all reviews, and I hope you do too.