Damn fiction.

I was all set to review a fiction book this morning, and then I thought about it a bit...and realized I'm not a very good fiction reviewer.

There's no doubt about it. Reviewing fiction is different from reviewing nonfiction. For one thing, I'm always afraid of blowing the ending in fiction. This very rarely matters in nonfiction, because usually if there's a story to be told, the reader knows all about it, or enough about it that you can easily discuss it. In True Crime, largely, someone's been murdered and someone's going to be apprehended. Sports adventure, like Jon Krakauer's Into Thin Air? People are going to climb up a mountain, and it's not going to end well. We know that. That's why we bought the book. Particularly in memoirs: the plot twists are often why the memoir is being written. Got a drug problem? Issues with your parents? Sex addiction? That's WHY the memoir is being written. So I'm not giving anything away when I share that.

But fiction? A lot of times a twist in the narrative or a surprising turn in the story is what I want to share, as I feel that's where the author has probably spent the most time, or where their prose is really shining. But then I can't...because I don't want to ruin the story.

I further struggle with fiction because when it's bad, I just want to stop reading it, whereas with nonfiction, I like to figure out why it's annoying me. I don't know why that is. Perhaps because I expect a lot of modern fiction to be bad, I'm not as personally affronted by it or something.

I'm also really bad, it turns out, at summarizing stories in general. So what do you say? What do you like to see in a good fiction review? Let me know and I'll try to make it happen for tomorrow's review of fiction.

Comments

[katharine]

I always think a good fiction review is like a cool movie trailer, it makes you want to see (or read) the whole thing. Reviewing fiction is tough though, you never want to give too much away. I like when we do MadReads that we can add our silly opinions and they aren't too stuffy with literary analysis. Don't worry CR, you've got mad reviewing skillz, fiction or nonfiction.

[Citizen Reader]

Oh Katharine,
You're such a sweetie. I wish I had mad reviewing skilz, or really mad skilz of any kind. :)

I think your point about making a good review like a movie trailer is a good one. Perhaps that is what I am missing in my fiction reading--the general enthusiasm that I bring to nonfiction reading. Now, when I find fiction I enjoy, I REALLY enjoy it, but I think I'm so picky that it's almost exhausting to me to find those really good reads (much less to write about them).

Ah, silly opinions. They're the best. And frankly--they're what "reviews" should be all about, I think.

[Jessica]

So true! So true! I find discussing non-fiction books in detail is really easy and interesting, and if someone isn't planning to read the book then my review can be of some real use.

With fiction, on the other hand, there's almost nothing a person can say that won't reveal at least part of the story to someone who hasn't read it yet. When I read fiction reviews, I almost always skim to the bottom paragraph and try to see whether the reviewer liked the book or not, without finding out anything about the story.

[Anonymous Library Employee]

I occasionally review fiction and find myself focusing less on the ending than on the setup, if that makes sense. So if I were reviewing "Hamlet," I would say that Hamlet's father, the King, has recently died; his uncle has married the Queen and taken over the throne. The mysterious apparition of his dead father prompts the melancholy Dane to suspect that the death was not of natural causes. Blah blah blah. Then get into a discussion of the characters, the setting, the writing style, throw in a few choice quotes - things you can discuss without giving away the resolution of the central conflict of the story or any of its surprises. I think a good reviewer can make you want to read the book even if it's a bad review, if she describes aspects of the book she dislikes that you happen to enjoy. Say I think "Pride and Prejudice" didn't really need any zombies, but you think everything goes better with a zombie added, for example. I don't know if that helps.

[Venta]

I have to skim through fiction reviews, too. I want just enough information to know whether it will be something I will enjoy reading. I look for key words to describe the book or characters (e.g., deceptive, intriguing). Fortunately I have a short memory span, so I can skim the review, find the book and forget why I chose it by the time I get it.

Since I write reviews for children's books (mostly YA) I know how hard it can be to write a review for fiction without giving too much away. Plots and characters can be complicated, and it's hard not to think, "I have to explain this so that makes sense."

[Melanie]

I had to take a day to think about this, and I still don't know if I have an answer. I struggle with review writting myself, and I'm always on the look out for "rules" for writing reviews. But, I think, some people like plot, some characters, and others like place. So all those elements need to be mentioned - either they are there or they aren't. To me it comes down to opinion. When I am writing a review I try to write in the same tone as if I was telling a patron at the circulation desk about the book. Am i really writing a review if it's short and to the point? I don't know. Great question, it's really gotten me thinking.

[Tripp]

I think that one of the reasons that nonfiction is easier to review is that it is easier to say whether the book is a success or not. Whether it convinced you of something, made you want to read deeper into a subject, added to the existing research or adjusted your outlook, it is relatively simple judgment.

With fiction, it often comes down to a degree of how much you liked it and that can be hard to describe. I end up just comparing fiction to other books I like.

[Citizen Reader]

These are such awesome replies. I have so much to think about now, because I would really like to "review" some more fiction, as I think the sources largely available now just kind of provide summaries and move on from there.

Jessica--that's just the problem. I find so few reviewers who will actually state an opinion that I find all fiction reviews very frustrating. And don't even get me started on Booklist--"all positive reviews" indeed. That is NO help. And, I'm glad I'm not the only one who finds fiction a real challenge. If it gives you pause I know I'm in good company.

[Citizen Reader]

ALE,
Thank you. I think you're absolutely right that a good deal of time should be spent on the set-up, although I haven't thought of it before. And I agree with the part about quoting--although I promptly went in today's review and didn't quote anything. I tried; but it was just hard to find a piece that really showed the author's skill without needing too much context provided. So maybe that's another difference. I think nonfiction is a LOT easier to pull quotes from, too.

Venta,
YES! I am always over-explaining, so I need to get away from that. I too skim for certain words in reviews--but probably in the opposite way; I usually steer clear of things like "poignant" and "feel-good." I know I tend to rely too heavily on the word "compelling," which is not really all that descriptive, when you think about it.

[Citizen Reader]

Melanie,
Always very glad to provide the food for thought. I have already so enjoyed this discussion and look forward to thinking more about how I can improve my fiction reviews (and my NF reviews, by extension). I'm not good at many things in this world but I would like to be good at this, so I appreciate the help.

You raise an interesting point about opinion--are you allowed to give opinions at the library desk? We never were. I think that's another serious way in which librarians are bound by their professionalism--unlike booksellers, we can never really "sell" a title, because we're only supposed to "suggest," not "recommend." I get that and all but it sure sucks a large part of the fun out of the process. I myself think we hurt ourselves by being scared of recommending, but I'm in the minority on that opinion in the library world.

Tripp-
And THERE is the other problem with fiction reviewing, for me. For some reason, fiction titles and stories just do not stick in my head the way NF titles do. Seriously. I can look at a NF title and recall it years later without even reading the book--but with fiction I often have to think, "oh, did I even read that?" So it feels like I don't have as much fiction book knowledge to do good comparisons. Frustrating.

[Brandon]

When I write about fiction, I do away with summaries entirely. I hate summarizing, and I hate reading summaries. I just skip them if I'm reading a review. At best, I'll tack on a genre, just so people know what they're getting into. I like to start books by knowing next to nothing about it. Besides, if someone is going to read it, they'll read the back or jacket copy anyway. Boom, plot summary right there.

I'm ignorant of readers when talking about books. I write under the assumption that they've already read the book. I don't worry about confusing them. I think of it more like a duscussion, sharing opinions. I just write my impressions of the book, why I liked it, where it faltered. My reviews, if you can call them that, break all kinds of rules. So my advice: damn your readers. Just write whatever you thought about it, and stay away from summaries entirely. Assume people know the book you're talking about, that they've read it, and take it from there.

(Don't believe me? Ask yourself, how often do I summarize a book? Almost never. Summaries are the devil. I hate reading them, so I don't even bother writing them.)

[Melanie]

I like Tripp's point about comparing to other books. As a reader that gives me a much better idea about the book.

We don't have a policy about telling patrons if we liked a book or not. I know some of our staff don't, but I made the decision to be honest. And I love when a patron comes back to me and tells me I'm wrong and why :)

[bybee]

Writing reviews is difficult for me, but surprisingly, the only one I really agonized over for *weeks* was How To Cook A Wolf by M.F.K. Fisher, a nonfiction.