This week's LOVE-ly content is coming to you, courtesy of my imaginary blogging boyfriend: Eric at Pimp my Novel.Eric wrote a great little essay on the benefit of negative reviews. Seeing as how I have a philosophical imperative to review all books I read--the great, the mediocre, and the down-right bad (as we'll probably see this week... I've got three in store)--his views were refreshing, as opposed to the seemingly more wide-spread opinion in book blogging that, "If you can't review it positively, don't say anything at all."
He writes, "...One of the principle reasons why, à mon avis, the negative review should be written: to help correct the bias generated by solely positive reviews, since such reviews are oftentimes met only with silence by those with dissenting opinions. "
Take heart, dear readers, literature is art; therefore, our opinions are highly subjective. This means that: 1) Our review is not the be-all-and-end-all; and 2) Our review has some merit, regardless of our love/hate of the book. (Also note: I did not say that all opinions are equal. I'll write more about that at a later time.)
Have a LOVE-ly middle of the week, dear readers.
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4 comments:
Very true. I don't think reviews have to be positive.
Heather. I started a new essay section on my blog. You're welcome to contribute. Belles-Lettres
I sometimes think the comments after a negative review put some bloggers off. And the hate mail too. But we can't love everything we read! :) Good post.
I absolutely don't think reviews have to be positive! Wow.
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