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Well, that was embarrasing.
Nov. 6th, 2011 07:45 amSo I've signed up to Good Reads since the demise of the virtual bookshelf I was using previously. And Good Reads is pretty popular these days. Radio 4 have mentioned it and everything.
So I added a few old books and then set to adding my current reading and, when finished, maybe reviewing. In doing so I reviewed my first ebook fiction purchase (all others so far have been academic) The Bestseller by Stephen Leather. I bought it because I was in the mood for a thriller and I've heard a lot of good things about the author.
And I didn't really like the book. It was clever- working in cycles, referring to self, characters' comments overshadowing what you know is going to happen to them etc but it wasn't enjoyable. And so I gave it one star and left my review of why I didn't enjoy it.
And the author replied.
This is so bloody embarrasing. I am relieved at least that I reviewed articulately: there is not a word of it that I would hurriedly take back, but I'm left feeling like I should apologise to the author for not liking his book. I feel like his response makes me want to not write bad reviews, which is of course nonsense because I only review things I have an opinion on, bad or good, and I don't wish to censor that. The whole point of posting reviews online in places like good reads is so that other people can read them and make an assessment as to whether they wish to read the book or not.
The author also responded to someone rating his novel one star without reviewing in less than the polite terms with which he responded to me.
I do not like this. It offers quite the conundrum too. In the world of fanfiction, reviewing a story means you knowingly wish to tell the author directly what you think, but on somewhere like good reads I do not expect the author to read or respond to my review- good or bad- because I am not, when reviewing on somewhere like that, addressing them. I don't want to have to feel like I should apologise for not liking their story, or only post good reviews for fear the author might read them and their feelings will be hurt, and I most certainly don't want to be flamed by an author going "they're MY TOYS AND YOU JUST DON'T UNDERSTAND".
It's a very rocky sort of cyberspace this. Any navigational aids available?
So I added a few old books and then set to adding my current reading and, when finished, maybe reviewing. In doing so I reviewed my first ebook fiction purchase (all others so far have been academic) The Bestseller by Stephen Leather. I bought it because I was in the mood for a thriller and I've heard a lot of good things about the author.
And I didn't really like the book. It was clever- working in cycles, referring to self, characters' comments overshadowing what you know is going to happen to them etc but it wasn't enjoyable. And so I gave it one star and left my review of why I didn't enjoy it.
And the author replied.
This is so bloody embarrasing. I am relieved at least that I reviewed articulately: there is not a word of it that I would hurriedly take back, but I'm left feeling like I should apologise to the author for not liking his book. I feel like his response makes me want to not write bad reviews, which is of course nonsense because I only review things I have an opinion on, bad or good, and I don't wish to censor that. The whole point of posting reviews online in places like good reads is so that other people can read them and make an assessment as to whether they wish to read the book or not.
The author also responded to someone rating his novel one star without reviewing in less than the polite terms with which he responded to me.
I do not like this. It offers quite the conundrum too. In the world of fanfiction, reviewing a story means you knowingly wish to tell the author directly what you think, but on somewhere like good reads I do not expect the author to read or respond to my review- good or bad- because I am not, when reviewing on somewhere like that, addressing them. I don't want to have to feel like I should apologise for not liking their story, or only post good reviews for fear the author might read them and their feelings will be hurt, and I most certainly don't want to be flamed by an author going "they're MY TOYS AND YOU JUST DON'T UNDERSTAND".
It's a very rocky sort of cyberspace this. Any navigational aids available?
