Advertisement
If you have a new account but are having problems posting or verifying your account, please email us on hello@boards.ie for help. Thanks :)
Hello all! Please ensure that you are posting a new thread or question in the appropriate forum. The Feedback forum is overwhelmed with questions that are having to be moved elsewhere. If you need help to verify your account contact hello@boards.ie

Power of book reviews

Options
  • 10-08-2015 9:55am
    #1
    Swiper the fox
    Registered Users Posts: 6,746 ✭✭✭


    I was listening to Paul Murray (famously the author of Skippy Dies) on radio recently and wanted other opinions. I often buy a book based on a very positive review even though I realise that the industry is such that very often a positive review can't be trusted and I've regretted quite a few purchases.
    However I absolutely adored Skippy Dies and would have almost definitely bought his new book as soon as I saw it in the shop. However it got slated in the Irish Times and it turned me off it. Now I've seen some good reviews of it since but the first one has never left me.
    Two questions, has anybody read it to let me know if it's worthwhile?
    Do reviews persuade you to read books or not?


Comments

  • Options
    #2
    mr.anonymous
    Registered Users Posts: 481 ✭✭mr.anonymous


    I don't know of the book you're referring to.

    But if I see a negative review on Amazon I tend to avoid the book. Especially in the fiction category. I'm getting into reading as a hobby but I haven't been convinced about any titles. For example, "The Girl on the Train" was a bestseller on Amazon but I saw mixed reviews on boards and other sites and avoided it. I'm sticking with non-fiction for now.


  • Options
    #3
    echo beach
    Registered Users Posts: 1,252 ✭✭✭echo beach


    There is a lot of personal taste involved in reading fiction and two people seldom have a same opinion on a book. There are books I loved but good friends couldn't finish. I don't recommend books. I say that I enjoyed it (or hated it) and let others make up their own mind.

    I'd say read the book. How big a loss is it even if you don't enjoy the book? Ask for it in your local library. Won't cost you anything and the chances are they will have had some feedback on it from regular readers.


  • Options
    #4
    CeannRua
    Closed Accounts Posts: 470 ✭✭CeannRua


    I read Skippy Dies and really liked it. Haven't bought the new book and the Irish Times review played a part in this although it probably shouldn't have... was fairly gobsmacked by the review when I read it. Fair enough if a reviewer doesn't like a book but thought the way the review was written was OTT. The Irish Times ran another article containing comments by various book reviewers soon afterwards and the number of them who said they didn't write honest reviews because of the small size of the literary community in Ireland was illuminating.


Advertisement