Write Out Loud (Reviews and Writing)

“So, disagree with my reviews, by all means. This is also useful for those that fall upon these pages.”

Recently, I had a lovely little comment on this site from ‘Jimmy’ who clearly didn’t like my reviews very much. I didn’t publish the comment because it was the usual vacuous insulting type which always assumes that a) I’m a failed writer and b) I am very bitter about other writers. This, after admitting to reading a whole ‘couple’ of my reviews and feeling able to psychoanalyse my character as a result of such intensive research. Wow. An interesting criticism or even witty insult I would publish – it’s all good sport – but such empty nonsense I can see aplenty on Twitter; I don’t need it here too.

But the silly comment was a useful prod to get on with writing this post – something I’ve had in the back of my mind for a while – so I guess I owe ‘little Jimmy’ a nod of thanks for that.

The question is: what is the point of book reviews? Who cares what you have to say about any particular book? Who are you to tell us what we should or should not read? Who are you to absolutely trash a book you don’t like?

These are good questions, and it is worth thinking over them for a while (probably too long a while for Jimmy, who thinks I write far too much!) For those of you sticking around, here’s my take on it all…

For the love of books

Believe it or not, I love books!

I care about the written word and I love it when words are used well. There is nothing I like more than to have something take me to another world and move me in a way that can never happen again. Over the last 50 years, I’ve been honoured (I don’t think it is too much to say that) to read some very special stories. I’ve had my life changed by some incredible books – both fiction and non-fiction. Such books I praise and praise again. My students must tire of me regularly telling them how good a book is (such as Peter Frankopan’s spellbinding history of the world, The Silk Roads). You should see my eyes light up if I get to tell someone about a new novel I’ve fallen in love with.

So far, so normal. Any book lover must say the same, surely? Yes, indeed.

The problem comes with the fact that for every great book, there’s a thousand others which range from reasonably decent through to utterly awful. ‘The perfect is the enemy of the good’ is an aphorism popularised by Voltaire and it is true, but even more so when turned around – the good is the enemy of the best.

The death of literature

We don’t live in a world any longer where reading is the gateway to the imagination. 100 years ago, a child literally only had books to use to engage with the world of imagination. But then came radio, followed swiftly by TV, movies and then, decades later, the internet and, most recently, streaming services. If I want to enter an imaginary world now, all I have to do is switch on Netflix and receive instant gratification. How can a book compete with that?

Moreover, if you do persuade a young person to put down the iPad and pick up a book, if that book is then pretty dire, you’ve hammered yet another nail into the coffin of literature. As a teacher for more than 30 years, I’ve seen an almost complete death of reading literature. Weirdly, I suspect young people are reading more than ever before, it just isn’t long literature – it is all subtitles, TikTok lines, comments, short posts and a whole range of short, snappy sentences, along with endless amounts of text messages in one form or another.

I have no problem with this – I wholly approve of interactive and connected universes we create in the virtual world. I love it! But I do grieve that so many no longer read books. There is still nothing better than taking in the words and letting your own imagination do the work. That world then belongs to you and you alone. That’s special. It is sad then, that young minds are being turned away from that kind of reading. In part, ‘bad’ books are a hindrance; very often, they are to blame.

Honesty and deceit

So, how do you select the wheat from the chaff?

You do what humanity has done for thousands of years: you ask for advice. There’s nothing better than a personal recommendation. When you someone you trust says “you’ve GOT to read this. You’ll love it!”, you tend to believe them. They might be wrong but, hey, you’ve learned something about what they like even if that’s the case, and you have something to talk about; so there’s nothing to lose. But usually, they will be absolutely right.

The problem with this though is that personal recommendations are, by nature, an ever-decreasing circle and gives you a limited ‘gene pool’ of styles to read. If your trusted friend adores detective novels, they are like to only suggest detective novels to you. That’s fine, but what about other styles of books?

And so, we turn to reviews. These give us a wider variety of books. Stuff we wouldn’t think of reading normally. When a review intrigues you, you think ‘I wouldn’t normally read this kind of book but…this does sound fascinating. Maybe I’ll give it a go?’

In the past, you might get this from the blurb on the back of the books themselves or from the major newspapers. But there is such a huge problem with both of these: neither are trustworthy.

Publishers will never put on a book “Mediocre at best”, New York Times. They will only put the good quotes on the cover. Increasingly, such quotes come from a select range of reviewers who can be relied on to ‘say something favourably’. I’ve lost track of how many celebrity quotes I’ve seen on books that simply aren’t true. They have been paid to write something nice, or they are friends with the writer – or perhaps they share the same agent. It is a big scam.

The internet really has come to the rescue here. Today, if you want to find out if something is worth buying/seeing/ eating/visiting etc., you go read the customer reviews. There you get the average review score, see how many people gave something five stars, but also see how many gave the one star reviews too. If you’re like me, you go straight to the one star reviews first and read them. Sometimes there’s an axe to grind: they didn’t like the staff or the atmosphere. You can ignore those. Sometimes it is just a cock up: the food arrived late or a lift had broken down. You can take the risk it was a one-off. Sometimes it is something that clearly keeps recurring: the staff are rude, there’s no access for disabled persons. You then get to weigh up if this place or product is worth investing your time. You weigh it by the good reviews. Generally, does this restaurant/theatre/museum/writer get it right?

It is by far the best way to get a feel for something. It is for this reason that ALL my book reviews are repeated on Goodreads. You can go there and see not just my review but the whole gamut of views. This supports the writer (even if it is a bad review) and gives the reader the best chance of reading a book that will be just perfect for them. That’s so important. There’s simply not enough time even to read all the very best books. You don’t want to waste time with the dreadful and lame. In my opinion, customer reviews are by far the best and most reliable form or review. That said, there’s an increasing number of ‘bought reviews’ out there. Ho hum, history repeating itself. There’s still a place then, for people like me.

When I write a review I am not egotistical enough to think my view is the only possible one. To be fair, there are times when it is pretty close! But I am aware that it is possible to love a book others hate and vice versa. What’s important is that I’m not bought, no one makes me write these reviews, I’ve not got any devious reason for praising some and trashing others.

Recently, I wrote a bad review for a book, My assistant pretty much screamed at me “Nooooo! It’s one of my favourite books. How could you?!” I had, indeed, trashed a story she thought was superb by a writer she adores even though I shall never read that writer again. Was there a fall out? No! I took my slap on the wrist with a good grace and plenty of laughter. Will I change my review? Also no. Here’s why…

They can’t all be good

If every book review I wrote was five stars or four stars, you’d simply tune out my reviews. Here goes Ken yet again saying how good a book is – who cares? But when you get bad reviews, you might disagree – no problem there – but, more importantly, when you see a good review, you know I must have really liked that book. You know it is honest. If you trust me, you might go buy that book. If you don’t, why are you even here?

I don’t just write book reviews. I do music, theatre, travel and food reviews on various different media. Some of it is still the traditional print media and you’ll find my reviews in magazines all over the world. Some of these reviews – such as my theatre ones – are written to support a struggling industry. Theatres in the north UK are working hard to bring culture to their communities. They are doing a fantastic job. I won’t write a bad review for them. Such reviews are seen by literally millions of people. What I write really matters. If I see a bad production, I pass over it in silence; it’s the kindest thing I can do. I am very selective about what I review to avoid having to do much ‘passing’. But this make theatre reviewing very difficult indeed because every review needs to be true and honest. I know that if I make a criticism – and I do, regularly – I could hurt feelings and potentially stop a few tickets from being bought. I take that very seriously. For that reason, all my theatre reviews are written as positively as possible. My job is to support the industry.

But if the review I’m doing is for something or someone that is prospering, then it is more important to be absolutely – and brutally – honest. They’re not going to be hurt by my review. Almost all the books I review are bestsellers or classics. If the latter, the writer is probably long since dead. Their ghost can bite my ass. For the former, they’ve made their money and have an adoring crowd of fans. Their agent can bite my ass too.

My reviews are not written for them. Why would those writers care what I think? My reviews are written for you; for your benefit. You get my take on what I think is shit, just as much as you get my view on what should go on your ‘to read’ list. The same goes for every other independent reviewer. You’re getting their opinion (and it really all is just opinion) to help you make a positive choice so the good, the bad and the fifty shades don’t get in the way of reading the excellent.

So, disagree with my reviews, by all means. This is also useful for those that fall upon these pages. To see a different view of the same book – great! That’s just like going to those one star reviews to see what ‘the other crowd’ think. But please, don’t boil down a review you didn’t like to a pseudo-psychological profile of ‘writer hates other writers’. That’s just crass and it brings nothing to the table. Tell me why my book review is wrong. Tell me what you loved about that book I just trashed. Tell me what I’ve missed. Even tell me why that book I loved is actually awful! But if you take personal potshots at me, rest assured, I love to take potshots back. After all, such is my busy ‘failed’ writing career, I don’t get much opportunity for sport. So feel free to take a swing.

But beware, you might end up the subject of a post. Like little Jimmy. Bless him.

Social Entrepreneur, educationalist, bestselling author and journalist, D K Powell is the author of the bestselling collection of literary short stories “The Old Man on the Beach“. His first book, ‘Sonali’ is a photo-memoir journal of life in Bangladesh and has been highly praised by the Bangladeshi diaspora worldwide. Students learning the Bengali language have also valued the English/Bengali translations on every page. His third book is ‘Try not to Laugh’ and is a guide to memorising, revising and passing exams for students.

Both ‘The Old Man on the Beach’ and ‘Sonali’ are available on Amazon for kindle and paperback. Published by Shopno Sriti Media. The novel,’The Pukur’, was published by Histria Books in 2022.

D K Powell is available to speak at events (see his TEDx talk here) and can be contacted at dkpowell.contact@gmail.com. Alternatively, he is available for one-to-one mentoring and runs a course on the psychology of writing. Listen to his life story in interview with the BBC here.

Ken writes for a number of publications around the world. Past reviewer for Paste magazine, The Doughnut, E2D and United Airways and Lancashire Life magazine. Currently reviews for Northern Arts Review. His reviews have been read more than 7.9 million times.

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