Things to mention in a book review

[Simcha Lazarus]

I recently started writing book reviews for my website and I've been wondering if there are certain opinions that should be left out of a review, even though I feel strongly about them, because I don't see any other reviews doing it.

More specifiably, one of my pet-peeves is when an author uses a particular word or phrase over and over again in a book, to the point where it is distracts me from the story. The thing is, that almost all authors seem to do this but I rarely see anyone mention it in a review.

For example, in one of Kim Harrison's books she kept describing characters faces as going "blank" or "slack." In generally I don't think these are very descriptive words for an expression but the fact that she used them on almost every page drove me to distraction. But I didn't see anyone mention this in any reviews of the book.

I also just read a book where the author kept describing a character as "smirking" even though this expression was not inline with the character that the author had created (imagine Mr. Darcy from Jane Eyre being described as "smirking"). And about half way through the book this word was suddenly being used with a lot more frequency then before. Since this bothered me so much I want to mention it in the review of the book but I was wondering if this would be considered irrelevant to most people and something that I should not bother mentioning despite the fact that I feel strongly about it.

I would appreciate any opinions on the matter from other book reviewers

Thanks,

Simcha

[bookaholic]

Hmm.. I haven´t read all posts in this thread, but "(imagine Mr. Darcy from Jane Eyre being described as "smirking")" caught my eye. I don´t think there is any Mr Darcy in Jane Eyre.. if Im not very much mistaken. Do you mean perhaps Mr. Rochester?, or is it Mr Darcy from Pride and Prejudice? Somehow I can picture Mr. Darcy smirking - he seemed so self-absorbed to all the people around him (except his dearest friends, of course.. which we know nothing about due to the fact that the book was written in Elizabeths POV).

Anyway, I definitely think you should mention errors and other not so enjoyable facts in your reviews. That´s something I have difficulties with, I either don´t mention those books, or I write a review and keep the "bad" parts in my opinion to myself.

P.S. Please would yo check out my blog on En bookaholics bekännelser and leave a comment so I may return the visit! :D

[Simcha Lazarus]

Oops - I did mean Mr. Rochester since I happened to have him in mind while writing the post because I was currently reading The Eyre Affair. Don't know where Darcy came from. Thanks for the correction and the advice. I'll try to stop by your blog soon,

[Michael Rosenbaum]

Simcha,

As an author, I ask my editors to fix this problem for me, and usually they succeed. I think it's very common for all of us to get a word stuck in our heads and use it two or three times in two paragraphs.

As a reviewer, it's fine to share your opinion about this, up to a point. If it seems that you can't get past the issue, it can detract from your credibility as a reviewer. If it's a point that you mention as a distraction, you can appear more attentive and sophisticated.

A reviewer of my first book used the entire review for a screed against the entire marketing profession. In comparison, I would have thought it very kind to be cudgeled merely for repetition.

Michael Rosenbaum
http://yournamehereguide.wordpress.com/