Book Reviewers

I read book reviews. It’s one way to tell, from sitting at your kitchen table on a Sunday morning, whether a book is one you will enjoy reading. At least it is a first step, a hook to pull you in. Certainly one cannot always rely on someone else’s opinion about anything, especially fiction. In times past, a person has said to me, “Oh, this is a ‘must’ read. You’re gonna love it.” Well, I’ve taken that advice a few times and can’t say I always (actually, rarely) loved the book. Sometimes I was bored, sometimes the story was disappointing, and sometimes I disliked the writing style of the author.

Book reviews published in the newspaper or on the net can give you indications of the story subject, characters, plotlines, etc. Recently the reviewer told the complete plot, including which character gets killed by mistaken identity. Another told of a main character marrying and being unfaithful in the same sentence before we even got a chance to experience his falling in love. Do reviewers really have to reveal so much of the story? Why should I bother to buy a book when I already know what’s going to happen to everyone in the story. Half the fun of reading fiction is the unfolding of the story. Some novels depend on your curiosity and wanting to know what happens next.
Please let us enjoy the surprises the author planned for us.