I’ve been thinking of this topic on and off for a while now, and I’ve seen this conversation happen over and over again between members of the book community. But I think as a community, whether it’s book bloggers, booktubers, bookstagrammers or just book lovers on twitter and other social media, we have an issue. That issue is that we are so focused on being positive all the time.
The first point that really adds to this is the ever increasing amount of people who straight up refuse to create negative reviews of books. I personally think negative reviews are a vital part of the community and the wider book market. Without negative reviews, and the constructive criticism that comes with them, authors can’t learn from mistakes or try to better their writing. Negative reviews also flag to the publisher what readers are looking for in their reading. For example, negative reviews for books that have problematic representations of mental illnesses such as depression will flag to the publishers that we need better representations of these illnesses if they’re to be included in future books. Reviews are also one of the key ways people find out whether they want to purchase a book or not.
If people are refusing to criticise or talk about negatives of a book, this lacks some of the depth that may be needed for critical discussions. Without this critical discussion of a book, and the constant positivity of ‘I loved this book’ for every single book you read and share to the audience, the content portrayed starts to lack in credibility. I personally don’t enjoy watching or reading reviews that are limited in terms of justification of positivity and I sure as hell do not trust it. I doubt it’s just me. And that’s where the problem lies with ignoring negative aspects. Once that trust, and credibility is lost, the ‘review’ is content for contents sake and it’s of no use to people who actually want to know about this book, and whether they should pick it up.
Plus, if you’re a content creator a lot of content is probably reviews or surrounding the books you’ve read. Let’s face it, you’re not going to love every single book you read. So if you’re just not reviewing books you don’t enjoy, that’s one less review piece of content for you. Plus reading takes time, you’ve spent time you’re not getting back on reading this book and you’ve got no way to make content from it as you don’t like it. Obviously this isn’t the be all and end all – and you don’t need to make content from every book you read, but when you don’t like a book, you can spin that into good content as well. But you do need to disclose when you didn’t enjoy a book if you’re making content around it, to a degree. If you make multiple posts or videos around a book which may influence someone to purchase it, it borders on misleading your readers if you don’t let them know.
Another point for too much positivity focus is actually within the books themselves. I completely understand that some people need and want trigger warnings and notice of problematic areas before reading. So including these in reviews is perfectly okay in my mind, even though I personally don’t use them. However, problems that are prevalent in today’s society such as racism, fatphobia, homophobia etc do not need to be erased from our literature completely. I’ve seen (mainly on Goodreads…) reviewers give low scores to books that touch on these themes, when actually the book itself has context and is written in a way that shows that it is morally wrong, and the characters develop away from the problems they’ve shown. This is often because these readers want their content to be extremely positive all the time, which just isn’t a feasible ask from this type of media. Books are such a good medium for us to read about and to create a discussion about the harsh topics of the world. These topics are so important to be part of our reading experience, it allows us as readers to grow, to discuss and understand these issues in so much depth that we maybe don’t get from twitter threads and news articles.
Another issue I see is that people aren’t open to their opinions being disagreed with, and shouts of others being so ‘negative’ towards them occurring. Whilst we should definitely always be respectful of one another’s opinions, it should be a given that we can sit down and discuss different sides about a book, or a topic around a book without it becoming an argument. Isn’t that why we joined the community? We wanted somewhere we could discuss our reading with other book lovers. These differences of opinions can lead to a healthy and meaningful discussion about a book, you can ask questions, lead the conversation towards a different aspect of the book or you can just ‘agree to disagree’ on that point. But at the end of the day, you’re talking and it’s not ‘negative’, but you don’t have to push being happy and agreeable all the time either. We should be actively seeking out new perspectives to help ourselves grow as people.
With all these points, I’m fearing that as a community we’re veering so far into positivity in different ways that it’s going to affect us negatively in the long-run. The content being created is starting to become less credible, less trusting and some may question the ethics and whether we’re marketing books to one another in misleading and questionable ways. This falls down to thinking we’re not being able to voice negative opinions for multiple reasons and wanting to be overly positive. We’re also limiting our interactions with one another, screaming I love this book to one another for every single book may get old pretty fast. Being able to discuss (and have topics which need to be discussed) without creating arguments or upsetting one another for disagreeing is important too.
What I’m trying to say is, will this push towards constant positivity in the end create a disconnected community? And maybe this is something we should focus on now rather than later to fix
View Comments (25)
i love this post so much and literally agree with most of what youve said.
ive noticed people often dont understand why i'd review a book i didn't finish because they're like but you can't judge it? and im like but people are just going to ask me /why/ i chose to dnf it so a review helps that. especially when ive dnf books i enjoyed but wanted to read more of the series before that (it was the 1st in trilogy but 32nd book within a world series so i wanted a book that would be a better intro to the world)
Oh I totally agree with you! I rarely DNF a book because I'm stubborn af, but if I do I normally have a very specific reason which would definitely be of importance to some people when deciding to purchase, because they may share the dislike! And totally get you on the world building front - I love to know all the little details so I enjoy reading in order - Like the Shannara book series even though I disliked the first book!
I must admit, I don't always write reviews for books I don't like. Though, if I don't like a book, I often DNF it and so feel like I can't write a good review if I haven't finished. I do always strive to be realistic in my reviews though, if there is something I don't like in a book, I try to mention it.
Ah yeah I spoke to Lauren about DNFing - It always depends on the reason I guess, as if you don't have much more than 'I'm not enjoying it' then there's not really a way to make it into a coherent review sometimes!
Precisely! Sometimes I can't even pinpoint why I am not enjoying the book and so a review would read a bit like a incoherent ramble.
I was just stressing about posting a negative review! I'm always on the afraid to hurt someone's feelings side. I just need to remember that a book doesn't have to be liked by everybody!
This was a great discussion, I think many of us in the book community needed to hear it.
Ahh I just saw you post about it in the discord! Hope this made you feel a little better, I know it can be daunting!
Honestly love this post Becky! I think as a community we're hyper aware that words do have an impact on others, and as bloggers and in many ways influencer's we don't want to accidentally hurt or upset an author. The fact is, not every book is going to make us fall in love with it, not all of us are going to love the same books and that's ok. I love chatting with people who aren't fans or disliked the books I love and hold dear to me. As long as they're respectful about my opinions, I'm all ears as to why it didn't work out for them.
We can learn so much from each other, as people, as readers and as bloggers. Masking the negativity will only serve to hurt us in the long run, after all there can't be positive without the negative. They balance one another out.
I've also noticed with new book bloggers, how worried they get over posting negative or low star reviews. Honestly, I think the main thing they should and we should all remember, is our opinions positive or negative matter. We all have something to add and say, our blogs are our space and if we choose to focus more on the positive then fine. But let's make sure we don't totally write out the negative...as a community we should ensure we keep a balance of both. Just like the books have to balance out their elements to make a good read.
(I post reviews no matter if it was a DNF or 5 Star rating. I feel like people should know why I chose to DNF a book or give it the rating I did. As long as we make sure to point out what didn't work for us, what could work for them. I don't see the problem.)
I'm so glad you liked it! and wow that's a good comment - I agree with you completely! We need a good balance, we can't be too positive OR too negative without the community getting a bit lost.
This is everything! I have been saying a lot of this in private for a long time. We focus so much on loving things that we forget that a balance is a good thing in this community. Seeing good and bad is a normal part of life and especially is true with books. There are books I didn’t like and there are books I love that I want to shout from the mountains. I have also had books where I recognize that while I didn’t like the book, I can tell that others would love certain elements. I mention those in my reviews because it showcases that I can remove my opinion from what the book may be trying to do. The only 2 times I don’t review a book I have read is if I DNFEd it because often it is because it was just a book not for that moment and honestly when I forget I finished a book. I have horrendous memory, it is one of the reasons I started my blog. For a long time I didn’t do ratings on my blog because it allowed me to think more arbitrarily about the content and have to examine it from multiple perspectives. I wish more people did this. I rate now, but have been clear that the rating system I use is for me to have something to remember immediately how I personally felt about it. I have seen people literally not speak to people who post negative reviews and that is sad. You may be ignoring a person who shares similar tastes or that could be a great book friend, but the community is too focused on maintaining a facade. A facade that ultimately will make us look less and less like reputable reviewers. Also without changing the conversation can we rememeber, as a community, that book publishing is still an industry that needs to make money, so review books you bought as well! Not just ARC copies you have been blessed with. Go out and purchase them! I will get off my soapbox and your page now lol
So happy you you liked the post! I completely agree about the ratings - I sometimes put a rating on goodreads, but on this blog I never rate and it's because I want people to take in my reasoning and justifications for both the good and bad parts of books and to come to a conclusion as to whether that book is for them based on their individual preferences. And we should definitely not cut people off just for having differing views - this is such a worrying perspective to go through the world with!
And I agree on the purchased copies reviews! I know a few bloggers who rarely get/request/read ARCs and their content is great - and I tend to review any book I read, including the ones I've purchased myself!
mmhmm- yep. I so agree with you !
Another thing I see is that you see alot of pressure to "read differently"; including diversity and all that - which is good ! We definitely need to use our impact to review thoses kinds of things ... but not to the extend of "okay well.. I NEED to be doing this BECAUSE the book-osphere said so, not because I really want to" ..see what I mean ? What if we don't really wanna do that, that we just aren't into the type of stories for watever reasons, yet feel like we gotta hop on it anyway (and may post reviews we fear to say "different" than others?)
Oh I get that! I've got quite a lot of contemporaries that I sometimes feel like I "should" read because they're diverse, but I need to be in a particular mood for contemporaries so I just haven't. This sometimes makes me feel like I'm a bad reader, but then I check myself and remind myself that I should just read what I feel like reading.
Great points. I’m always hesitant to write a negative review- I feel bad criticizing something an author has spent months or years on, working on crafting their product, day after day. Who am I to come along and say “Your baby’s ugly!” (Just kidding, I’d never say that. Out loud.). But if there’s something in the book that could have been improved- slow pacing, poor editing, flat characters, etc, then I think it’s certainly fair to give my opinion on that.
I think a lot of people are hesitant! But I think some people mistake being constructive and talking about the negatives such as slow pacing, poor editing, flat characters, etc as a 'negative' review. It's important to include constructive criticism because those factors are a reason why someone may or may not want to read the book, and that's probably the reason they're reading the review.
Plus, it's annoying when I read a book that's had nothing but good reviews, to find out it has some issues like slow pacing which could have been mentioned but wasn't. just because the reviewers are all about only stating positive views on the books.
I love this post so much and agree with what you said; I am a huge advocate for negative reviews and it bothers me that people choose to not write them at all. I think there is a clear difference from bashing a book or an author, which I am sure some people are afraid to do, and constructively providing feedback as to why a book didn’t work for you.
Reading is a very personal and subjective experience, and it’s literally impossible for a book to please everyone. I think constructive negative reviews can actually save a reader from a negative reading experience, and thus help the book and the author as well.
I read more books that I post reviews for on my blog, but I do review everything on Goodreads and Amazon, good or not. I started including mini-reviews of everything I read in my monthly wrap-ups though, which makes me feel a bit better.
Ahh I'm so glad you advocate negative reviews too! So many people seem to misunderstand that negative reviews are often constructive and are there to inform the reader and hopefully let the authors and publisher learn for future books. They take the word negative and get too worked up about it!
This is a superb post! I am for critically thought out reviews – whether they are positive or negative. When I’m reading a review, I want to be able to pinpoint why the reviewer liked or disliked the book, or at least learn enough about the elements of the book to be able to make my own choice about whether or not I’m going to read it myself. This is what reviews should be about after all, right? So I don’t necessarily find reviewers less credible if they choose to avoid writing negative reviews, because a few bloggers I follow who do only write positive reviews write really good reviews. I do however, have a problem with reviewers who speak out against negative reviews, but then write positive “reviews” that are only a couple sentences short that simply state (in one way or another): “I liked this book,” or “This book is for everyone” after copying down the summary. “WHY? HOW?” I scream at my computer. And I do typically avoid reviewers whose review posts or videos are basically all sponsorships, or I at least take them with ten grains of salt.
I do agree that criticizing a book just because it includes homophobia, sexism, sexual assault, and/or other heinous acts is ridiculous. It is frustrating when I read a review that says something like “it’s 2018, why do these themes still exist in our books?” (I haven’t yet read a review like that in 2019 – but rest assured I do know what year it is currently 😉). It’s definitely not wrong to avoid these themes if you choose to, but stories with those themes deserve to be told, too.
As far as having quality discussions about things we disagree on – I think the decay of this has a lot to do with the instantaneous nature of social media. Fortunately, for me, it’s gotten easier to weed out those who are in favor of subtweeting or passively aggressively “dealing” with someone who doesn’t think like them, or people who are more interested in using social media to attack or “blast” people when they could just have a discussion, debate, and/or move on (in relation to books and reading). Nora Roberts talks about reckless behaviors on social media in her post, Mob Rule by Social Media, which she wrote in response to the plagiarism accusation from Tomi Adeyemi – I recommend taking a look if you get a chance or haven’t read it already.
Thank you for pressing “publish” on this post! 😊 Like others here, and you of course, these things have certainly been on my mind.
WOW - this is a post all on it's own 😉 I agree with your points and thank you so much for taking the time to write them down to take part in this conversation!
I love your point especially about social media - I think some people do fit directly into categories of sub-tweeting or 'blasting' people as soon as they disagree, which often causes drama instead of having a healthy discussion about the topic! I've read Nora's post and loved it, and felt it was a great response to Adeyemi's poor social media decision!
Ugh, I know - I try to stop myself from writing such long comments but I just have a lot of feelings. 😆
this is honestly the opposite direction I expected this post to take based on the title, but I absolutely agree with almost everything you’ve written here! I actually just noticed recently that I’d started several reviews in a row with “This was fun [but]…” no matter how much I actually liked it, though in my defense I did go on to elaborate on my rating and I did enjoy all of those books to some degree. (“fun” might be my new “interesting” – it’s bland, vaguely positive filler and doesn’t really say anything.) personally it helps that I started out writing reviews just for myself, as a little reminder what I thought of the book so I know whether or not it’s worth rereading in the future or if it’s a good comparison point for future recs – so I don’t shy away from negative reviews, but it does seem like many other people do.
regarding Goodreads specifically, I agree – though I think sometimes it can be unclear whether an author is condoning or condemning something, especially for readers who may not be used to thinking critically (because let’s face it, the education system universally kind of sucks in this regard); so if it’s not being done by an obvious villain and/or the takedown is more subtle, they might miss it. though at the same time there’s definitely lots of readers that, like you said, just don’t want to see “this kind of thing” in their books!
for me personally, a lot of English classes would turn into debates between me and the teacher and maybe a few other kids who’d actually read AND understood the book, so I know that I’m pretty used to just saying what I think, and digging in my heels when someone disagrees – until one tutor called me out on being “too blunt” and now I sometimes catch myself hesitating and sugarcoating or deleting what I was about to say. at the same time, it’s so easy to get into fights with people over the Internet (because I did feel a little defensive when someone tried to shoot down my ideas in class, but mostly I enjoyed the debate; but it’s harder to read tone and intention in text), especially when they’re vehemently disagreeing with you and your instinct is to feel personally attacked: you spent time writing up that review, you put yourself out there, and this is what you get back?? not saying it’s right, but I think it’s an easy trap to fall into.
hm. definitely food for thought, and hopefully a wake-up call to some people to think about their own behavior, as it has been for me ❤
I'm glad I could surprise you! I agree on the fun/interesting thing - I also find that I do that a lot and I agree a lot of people aren't used to the critical thinking aspect! Super happy that you joined in on the discussion with your piece! It was good to hear it from someone who's used to debating and being critical from school! ❤