I was on Goodreads just browsing through different reviews of different books and I kept reading these nasty reviews with just flat out rude statements. I couldn't believe that people could just say these rude things without even backing them up with examples. Now maybe I've just been doing too many seminar questions in English Lit and Comp. where I have to pretty much back every single thing I say up with some literary example, but I think that's a tad ridiculous. It's also shown me though, that it's mostly my generation. Teenagers.
I know first hand teenagers, they (or should I say WE) can be nasty. Trust me, I'm around them every day. And we are the target audience for all YA books. So yes, authors should expect some reviews that are not-so-nice. But this is kind of a touchy subject for me. My own mother is an author. So I know first hand that authors read the reviews they get. I've seen people say they flat out hated a book IN THEIR REVIEW. I think this is highly inappropriate. Other people may not think so but someone has put their blood, sweat, and tears into this piece of work and someone has ripped it to shreds. Of course authors are going to have to expect it, especially if it's YA because teenagers are extremely opinionated.
I have a policy where if it's lower than 3 stars (or should I say Diva Crowns (;)for me, then I'm not going to review it. There's no reason. If I do have some criticism for a book, I do the Oreo cookie method. I learned this method in Forensics when we would critique someone's performance after they performed it for the class. We would first say what we really liked about the piece, something they could work on, and then another fantastic thing. Now, I know that authors can't really change what they've already written after it's published, but I still think it's a good idea. If I'm going to criticize something I'm going to always add something afterwards to keep the author in good spirits, in case they're reading.
So I'm gonna be the person to be spreading the cheer and throwing sparkles on everyone, because that's what I love to do. Make people happy with my reviews. Especially authors who read my reviews and know that their hard work is worth it. Because, honestly, without authors, I wouldn't have things to enjoy in my free time, I wouldn't have such a large vocabulary, and I wouldn't be able to connect with so many awesome people on twitter and my blog who all share the same love for books as I do. So thank you, authors! :)
Anyways, sorry for that rant-y post. I needed to get that off my chest. I also want to know how other people feel about this. Do you find it a problem, or do you think it's fine? Feel free to tell me how you feel about this "situation." Ta Ta for now!
