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How to Review a Novel (lithub.com)
25 points by apollinaire on Aug 28, 2019 | hide | past | favorite | 6 comments


One of my favorites is Stephen King's NYT review of Donna Tartt's 'The Goldfinch': https://www.nytimes.com/2013/10/13/books/review/donna-tartts...



Since I'm not a novelist, professional critic, or a great writer, I can't do any of these things. When I try, it comes off as forced, at best. Instead, if I write a review, I just try to say in plain English what about the book appealed to me, if I liked it, or what didn't work for me, if I didn't.


If amazon is any indication, this is how you review a novel:

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1 star!

Worst vacuum cleaner ever. Wouldn't get dirt out of anything

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3 stars

Insert in depth literary analysis commenting on grammar, boring plot, and flat characterization.

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5 stars!

Kindly find book is best book every!

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Have you seen Hudson Hongo's Least Helpful site? Features the worst/funniest Amazon reviews. (He's the guy behind Literally Unbelievable, about people online who think Onion headlines are real)

https://leasthelpful.tumblr.com/

https://literallyunbelievable.tumblr.com/


The 1 star should be: "Book was damaged during shipping."




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