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6/5/2013

Corn Smut, Pond Scum, and Literary Criticism

I attended Left Coast Crime in March. At dinner one evening, I was shocked to learn that a diner at my table had corn smut smeared across her meal. She didn’t send it back to the kitchen. She ate it. The same stuff that plagued my heirloom corn crop a couple summers ago. Just goes to show you, one person’s gardening blight is another’s gourmet delicacy.

I really didn’t have much ground upon which to stand, considering that my husband calls one of my favorite juices “pond scum.” It’s green. Sure, it looks horrible, but it tastes fine, and has tons of vitamins and minerals. “Have you tried it?” I asked him. He twisted his face into a grimace and nodded his head. The same face I made when I ate a slice of his dried seaweed. Yuk.

Life experience teaches me that one person’s opinion may not agree with my own. So why are positive book reviews considered essential to a novel’s success? Have you ever read a book that got rave reviews, made the NYT bestseller list, yet did not meet your criteria for a good read?

I once bought a book because of a bad review. The reviewer was revolted by overt Christian references. Duh. It is marketed as a Christian cozy mystery. So I bought Miss Aggie Goes Missing by Frances Devine, mostly out of curiosity, and enjoyed a fun read. On the other hand, I read Water for Elephants, an acclaimed bestseller by Sara Gruen, and was not impressed. The circus and historical setting were interesting, but I just didn’t care about the characters.

My novel makes its debut in December. I am anxious about my story’s reception by the reading public. Will “they” love it, or hate it? Will a few reviews in highly visible places sink it or propel it to decent sales? Is my novel corn smut or a gourmet delight? Time will tell.

Each of us set our own criteria for what we want in a book before we make a purchase or check it out from the library. If you like hamburgers, you won’t seek out a vegetarian restaurant, or vice versa. After that, we might consult reviews. And if someone gives a bad review of a restaurant, you might never give it a try. Unless you know they wandered into the wrong establishment for their particular tastes, like the reader turned off by religious material in a Christian novel.

In the meantime, I’d like to know how disgusted or delighted you have to be to give a book review. Do you write reviews, or pass along verbal recommendations to reading friends? What is your rating system? How much do reviews influence your reading selections?

And maybe I’ll give that seaweed another chance.

Chris Mandeville link
6/5/2013 01:44:19 pm

I rarely review books because I demand honesty of myself, and the honest truth is not always complimentary. I fully recognize that my opinion of a book is not representative of everyone's opinions, and I hate to put a negative review out there when it could be that the book is simply not my cuppa tea. Thanks for bringing this issue to the forefront!

Jacqueline Seewald link
6/5/2013 08:26:03 pm

Hi, Cathy,

I enjoy seaweed but my husband doesn't. Which just goes to show that tastes vary. And yes, I've read books that were critically acclaimed and thought they weren't all that. Same with films.
I respect the fact that some of what I like and value won't get the same reaction from others. A case in point is my novel Tea Leaves and Tarot Cards which Mary Balogh liked and made suggestions for and Jayne Ann Krentz liked, blurbed and positive reviewed. The book then received a rather nasty review from one of the big reviewers and didn't sell well in hardcover because of it. However, it sold well in large print. Readers keep asking me when there will be a sequel.

Sara Hoklotubbe link
6/6/2013 04:25:41 am

I enjoyed your post today. You make an excellent point.

I, too, have had reviewers who loved my books and others who did not. One such reviewer said my mystery was "not literary enough." Uh, yeah, that's because it's a mystery, not intended to be literary.

When I write a review, which isn't very often, I fall back on that tired cliché -- "if you can't say something nice, don't say anything at all." I recently read an "award winning" book that drove me crazy because the author used point-of-view in the same scene like a ping pong ball. I wanted to scold her for that. But knowing that it doesn't seem to bother others and that it influences potential readers, I refrained and said nothing at all.

If I absolutely love a book, I step out and say so. I think that's the best rule for me.


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