Why Do They Bother?
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When I write a column most of the time, I’m in a cheerful rah rah mood. But every so often I just feel bitchy. Such is the case when I started writing this. I’m back at work after a week off. It was a week in which I didn’t get much of what I planned on doing done. And I’m ticked at myself for not doing it. So I thought I’d write about one of my pet peeves for a change of pace.
I often do research before buying a new to me author. Besides an author’s web site, one of the ways I research is checking at Amazon to see what they have to say there – not for the reviews so much as for the blurb. But sometimes I do read them and get a kick out of some of the reviews in a ‘shake my head’ kind of way. I did this just the other day for a book I was contemplating and noticed that most of the reviews were positive. There was a one star review though and I clicked on it to see what the ‘reviewer’ had to say. A feature at Amazon is being able to see all the reviews someone has done there. I clicked on the other reviews this person had posted and almost all of them were 1 star reviews. Many of them were books I’d read and enjoyed. And once again it made me shake my head. I wondered why this person even bothered reading and reviewing romance. She had only given 2 five star reviews – and these were to the old fashioned ‘bodice ripper’ style books that I can’t stand anymore. You know the kind – where the hero is supposedly alpha but is actually a totally arrogant a$$hole. If you don’t like what you are reading – why bother?
I’ll be honest – I’ve posted a few reviews on Amazon. Not many mind you, I’ll never be a Harriet Klausner, but for a few books that stand out for me, I’ll add my two cents worth. I can squander away many an hour reading through some of these reviews. With the few reviews I’ve posted, I’ve tried to give a brief outline of the book, not much as to give it away, but enough to give anyone reading a sense of the story. I’ll also give my thoughts on the hero/heroine.
But often while going through some of the reviews I’ll come across so called reviews that I wonder why the person even bothered. Their review will consist of something like this:
Loved this book!!! THis is the first book by the author that I have read. All I can say is I am so glad I decided to try her out. LOVED #####! I can see why the author says he is the most talked about of her heros. The scenes in the ball were great! I cant see anyone not liking this book.
Now I ask you – how is this “review” helpful? It doesn’t tell me a damn thing. I’m not going to name the book – unless you ask nicely, except to say it’s one I loved too. So even if it is positive, I still checked that this “review” wasn’t helpful.
Here’s another oh so helpful *cue the sarcasm music* I found:
This was a great read, only complaint I had is it was over too quickly! I couldn’t put it down!
While looking for examples, I found this review of a well know book that had me chuckling. When they said review of the book, this person really took it literally
I was not very happy when I received this book, was listed as brand new and I paid full price for this item. Only to find that it had a HUGE crease across teh front cover, and the binding was dented and had small rips. If I would have bought this book used I would have understood this kind of wear. Very disappointed in this purchase.
When I’m feeling even more bitchy – which believe it or not I do on occasion *g*, and I’m procrastinating, I’ll go down the list and click no on ‘Was this review helpful to you?’ button. And I’ll go down and if I think the review is a waster of effort, I’ll click no. In the spirit of being fair though, even if the review is negative and the person didn’t think much of a book I liked, if it’s well written and explains why the reviewer didn’t like it, I’ll check yes, it was helpful.
But unless someone puts up a review at Amazon that gives some kind of details, why do they bother.
So I wonder, am I the only one who gets annoyed with this kind of thing? Or do I need to get over it when I’m not feeling the happy camper mood come over me?
