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Book Reviews: Critics vs. Amazon Reviewers

First Posted: 05/13/11 10:10 AM ET Updated: 07/13/11 06:12 AM ET

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The Daily Beast:

In the age of rapid digital revolution in publishing, when readers have book review options ranging from decades-old publications like The New Yorker, The New York Review of Books, and The New York Times Book Review, to Twitter book clubs, literary websites, online publications like this one, and Amazon reader reviews, what is the role of the book reviewer? And how has that role changed?

Read the whole story: The Daily Beast

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In the age of rapid digital revolution in publishing, when readers have book review options ranging from decades-old publications like The New Yorker, The New York Review of Books, and The New York Ti...
In the age of rapid digital revolution in publishing, when readers have book review options ranging from decades-old publications like The New Yorker, The New York Review of Books, and The New York Ti...
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Benjamin David Steele
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08:39 AM on 05/14/2011
Amazon reviews are so helpful because there are usually many of them and they're all in one place. If you read just one professional review, you are still just getting one viewpoint. But to skim over numerous Amazon reviews gives you a larger perspective of all the possible reactions. In terms of deciding whether or not to buy a book, an intelligent person with good reading comprehension skills should benefit more from Amazon reviews than from professional reviews.
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ChrisRoberts
Chris Roberts, God of Short Stories.
30 Fans
06:56 PM on 05/13/2011
I lay waste to professional critics, pundits and others in the business of presenting a critique on books. My Amazon reviews consistently have twenty to twenty-five comments, numbers that are unheard of. I write the atypical review and the reader must work it and if they do, they are rewarded.

Literary critics, in their whimsical, utterly subjective way are bought and sold according to the politics of reviewing. A critique should be done absent payment and is certainly the most unbiased way of going about it. In all honesty no matter the sophistication, style or intricate construct, a book can easily be deemed worthy or not with no more than a twelfth-grade education.

Celebrated Atlantic Reviewer B.R. Myers is the best example of what professional reviewing is, at this moment: mundane. Myers has attached himself to the body literature because he has been allowed to and it is to the detriment to authors and readers alike. He can't create and his reviews don't even reach the level of pedestrian. Harsh, yes. A singular verity, yes.
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Fmal DeHyde
Every day feels like Monday lately.
47 Fans
06:06 PM on 05/13/2011
Many of the negative comments at amazon are from customers that had a bad shipping experience. That really skews the ratings. I tend to avoid the obvious syncophants that "love" every word their favorite author writes and gets offended if someone disagrees with them. The middling reviews usually give me a good idea what's good and what's bad about that particular book or movie.
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Pucker
My micro-bio is pending approval
250 Fans
10:36 AM on 05/13/2011
I find Amazon book reviews almost useless, because you just don't know where the author is coming from. Also, the reviews are skewed since most people will only write reviews for books they love.

The two things Amazon does that work for me are 1) allowing you to download a preview of books to the Kindle and 2) recommendations (I like to see all the similar books).

The Economist and the New York Times both have great book reviews.
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VA RT
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09:53 AM on 05/13/2011
Soon, we'll have no idea if we're buying quality. Professional reviewers are being drowned out by online reviews, often self- or shill-promotions to boost sales. This might be more democratic, but it's not an improvement. The value to prospective buyers in having professional opinions is being lost.
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