HOW TO WRITE A REVIEW

How to Write a Book Review

A book review is a description, critical analysis, and an evaluation on the quality, meaning, and significance of a book, not a retelling. It should focus on the book's purpose, content, and authority. A critical book review is not a book report or a summary. It is a reaction paper in which strengths and weaknesses of the material are analyzed. It should include a statement of what the author has tried to do, evaluates how well (in the opinion of the reviewer) the author has succeeded, and presents evidence to support this evaluation.

There is no right way to write a book review. Book reviews are highly personal and reflect the opinions of the reviewer. A review can be as short as 50-100 words, or as long as 1500 words, depending on the purpose of the review.

The following are standard procedures for writing book reviews; they are suggestions, not formulae that must be used.
1. Write a statement giving essential information about the book: title, author, first copyright date, type of book, general subject matter, special features (maps, color plates, etc.), price and ISBN.

2. State the author’s purpose in writing the book. Sometimes authors state their purpose in the preface or the first chapter. When they do not, you may arrive at an understanding of the book’s purpose by asking yourself these questions:
a. Why did the author write on this subject rather than on some other subject?
b. From what point of view is the work written?
c. Was the author trying to give information, to explain something technical, to convince the reader of a belief’s validity by dramatizing it in action?
d. What is the general field or genre, and how does the book fit into it? (Use outside sources to familiarize yourself with the field, if necessary.) Knowledge of the genre means understanding the art form. and how it functions.
e. Who is the intended audience?
f. What is the author's style? Is it formal or informal? Evaluate the quality of the writing style by using some of the following standards: coherence, clarity, originality, forcefulness, correct use of technical words, conciseness, fullness of development, fluidity. Does it suit the intended audience?
g. Scan the Table of Contents, it can help understand how the book is organized and will aid in determining the author's main ideas and how they are developed - chronologically, topically, etc.
g. How did the book affect you? Were any previous ideas you had on the subject changed, abandoned, or reinforced due to this book? How is the book related to your own course or personal agenda? What personal experiences you've had relate to the subject?
h. How well has the book achieved its goal?
i. Would you recommend this book or article to others? Why?
3. State the theme and the thesis of the book.
a. Theme: The theme is the subject or topic. It is not necessarily the title, and it is usually not expressed in a complete sentence. It expresses a specific phase of the general subject matter.
b. Thesis: The thesis is an author’s generalization about the theme, the author’s beliefs about something important, the book’s philosophical conclusion, or the proposition the author means to prove. Express it without metaphor or other figurative language, in one declarative sentence.
Example
Title: We Had it Made
General Subject Matter: Religious Intolerance
Theme: The effects of religious intolerance on a small town
Thesis: Religious intolerance, a sickness of individuals, contaminates an entire social group
4. Explain the method of development-the way the author supports the thesis. Illustrate your remarks with specific references and quotations. In general, authors tend to use the following methods, exclusively or in combination.
a. Description: The author presents word-pictures of scenes and events by giving specific details that appeal to the five senses, or to the reader’s imagination. Description presents background and setting. Its primary purpose is to help the reader realize, through as many sensuous details as possible, the way things (and people) are, in the episodes being described.
b. Narration: The author tells the story of a series of events, usually presented in chronological order. In a novel however, chronological order may be violated for the sake of the plot. The emphasis in narration, in both fiction and non-fiction, is on the events. Narration tells what has happened. Its primary purpose is to tell a story.
c. Exposition: The author uses explanation and analysis to present a subject or to clarify an idea. Exposition presents the facts about a subject or an issue as clearly and impartially as possible. Its primary purpose is to explain.
d. Argument: The author uses the techniques of persuasion to establish the truth of a statement or to convince the reader of its falsity. The purpose is to persuade the reader to believe something and perhaps to act on that belief. Argument takes sides on an issue. Its primary purpose is to convince.
5. Evaluate the book for interest, accuracy, objectivity, importance, thoroughness, and usefulness to its intended audience. Show whether the author's main arguments are true. Respond to the author's opinions. What do you agree or disagree with? And why? Illustrate whether or not any conclusions drawn are derived logically from the evidence. Explore issues the book raises. What possibilities does the book suggest? What has the author omitted or what problems were left unsolved? What specific points are not convincing? Compare it with other books on similar subjects or other books by the same as well as different authors. Is it only a reworking of earlier books; a refutation of previous positions? Have newly uncovered sources justified a new approach by the author? Comment on parts of particular interest, and point out anything that seems to give the book literary merit. Relate the book to larger issues.

6. Try to find further information about the author - reputation, qualifications, influences, biographical, etc. - any information that is relevant to the book being reviewed and that would help to establish the author's authority. Can you discern any connections between the author's philosophy, life experience and the reviewed book?

7. If relevant, make note of the book's format - layout, binding, typography, etc. Are there maps, illustrations? Do they aid understanding?

8. Check the back matter. Is the index accurate? Check any end notes or footnotes as you read from chapter to chapter. Do they provide important additional information? Do they clarify or extend points made in the body of the text? Check any bibliography the author may provide. What kinds of sources, primary or secondary, appear in the bibliography? How does the author make use of them? Make note of important omissions.
9. Summarize (briefly), analyze, and comment on the book’s content. State your general conclusions. Pay particular attention to the author's concluding chapter. Is the summary convincing? List the principal topics, and briefly summarize the author’s ideas about these topics, main points, and conclusions. Use specific references and quotations to support your statements. If your thesis has been well argued, the conclusion should follow naturally. It can include a final assessment or simply restate your thesis. Do not introduce new material at this point.
Some Considerations When Reviewing specific genres:
Fiction (above all, do not give away the story)
Character
1.From what sources are the characters drawn?
2.What is the author's attitude toward his characters?
3.Are the characters flat or three-dimensional?
4.Does character development occur?
5.Is character delineation direct or indirect?
Theme
1.What is/are the major theme(s)?
2.How are they revealed and developed?
3.Is the theme traditional and familiar, or new and original?
4.Is the theme didactic, psychological, social, entertaining, escapist, etc. in purpose or intent?
Plot
1.How are the various elements of plot (eg, introduction, suspense, climax, conclusion) handled?
2.What is the relationship of plot to character delineation?
3.To what extent, and how, is accident employed as a complicating and/or resolving force?
4.What are the elements of mystery and suspense?
5.What other devices of plot complication and resolution are employed?
6.Is there a sub-plot and how is it related to the main plot?
7.Is the plot primary or secondary to some of the other essential elements of the story (character, setting, style, etc.)?
Style
1.What are the "intellectual qualities" of the writing (e.g., simplicity, clarity)?
2.What are the "emotional qualities" of the writing (e.g., humour, wit, satire)?
3..What are the "aesthetic qualities" of the writing (e.g., harmony, rhythm)?
4.What stylistic devices are employed (e.g., symbolism, motifs, parody, allegory)?
5.How effective is dialogue?
Setting
1.What is the setting and does it play a significant role in the work?
2.Is a sense of atmosphere evoked, and how?
3.What scenic effects are used and how important and effective are they?
4.Does the setting influence or impinge on the characters and/or plot?

(http://www.lavc.edu/library/bookreview.htm)

How to Write a Book Review
by Bill Asenjo
A book review describes, analyzes and evaluates. The review conveys an opinion, supporting it with evidence from the book
Do you know how to write a book review? I didn't. And even though I knew I didn't, that didn't stop me from firmly inserting my foot in my mouth by agreeing to conduct a book review writing workshop for my local Barnes & Noble. I blithely assured myself it would simply be a matter of picking up Book Reviews for Dummies, or something to that effect. Au contraire. It's easier to find information on bomb-making than book review writing.
So I did what any other resourceful writer on deadline would do; I panicked. Well, for a moment. Quickly composing myself I scrounged the library and internet for every conceivable source that even hinted at the term "book review." What follows is the result of my gleaning
Before reading, consider:
• Title - What does it suggest?
• Preface or Introduction - Provides important information about the author's intentions or the scope of the book. Can you identify any limitations? Has the author ignored important aspects of the subject?
• Table of Contents - Shows how the book's organized -- main ideas, how they're developed (chronologically, topically, etc.)
Points to ponder as you read the entire book:
• What's the general field or genre? Does the book fit?
• From what point of view is the book written?
• Do you agree or disagree with the author's point of view?
• Make notes as you read, passages to quote in your review.
• Can you follow the author's thesis, "common thread"?
• What is the author's style? Formal? Informal? Suitable for the intended audience?
• Are concepts well defined? Is the language clear and convincing? Are the ideas developed? What areas are covered, not covered?How accurate is the information?
• Is the author's concluding chapter, the summary, convincing?
• If there are footnotes, do they provide important information? Do they clarify or extend points made in the text?
• If relevant, make note of the book's format - layout, binding, etc. Are there maps, illustrations? Are they helpful?
• Is the index accurate? What sources did the author use -- primary, secondary? Make note of important omissions.
• What did the book accomplish? Is more work needed? Compare the book to others by this author, or books in this field by other authors. (Use the books listed in the bibliography.)
Writing the Review:
• Include title, author, place, publisher, publication date, edition, pages, special features (maps, etc.), price, ISBN.
• Hook the reader with your opening sentence. Set the tone of the review. Be familiar with the guidelines -- some editors want plot summaries; others don't. Some want you to say outright if you recommend a book, but not others.
• Review the book you read -- not the book you wish the author had written.
• If this is the best book you have ever read, say so -- and why. If it's merely another nice book, say so.
• Include information about the author-- reputation, qualifications, etc. -- anything relevant to the book and the author's authority.
• Think about the person reading your review. Is this a librarian buying books for a collection? A parent who wants a good read-aloud? Is the review for readers looking for information about a particular topic, or for readers searching for a good read?
• Your conclusion should summarize, perhaps include a final assessment. Do not introduce new material at this point.
• To gain perspective, allow time before revising.
Writing a Fiction Book Review
Note: You don't have to answer every question -- they're suggestions!
Points to Ponder:
• What was the story about?
• Who were the main characters?
• Were the characters credible?
• What did the main characters do in the story?
• Did the main characters run into any problems? Adventures?
• Who was your favorite character? Why?
Your personal experiences
• Could you relate to any of the characters in the story?
• Have you ever done or felt some of the things, the characters did?
Your opinion
• Did you like the book?
• What was your favorite part of the book?
• Do you have a least favorite part of the book?
• If you could change something, what would it be? (If you wish you could change the ending, don't reveal it!)
Your recommendation
• Would you recommend this book to another person?
• What type of person would like this book?
Things to Bear in Mind:
Don't be intimidated by famous authors -- many have written mediocre books.
Don't review books by people you know, love, or hate.
Do you want to be a book reviewer? Start by doing. Write book reviews for local newspapers. If they don't have a book review section, start one.
If you have a specialty -- romance, mystery, dark fantasy -- cultivate it, become an expert.
(http://www.writing-world.com/freelance/asenjo.shtml)

How to Write a Book Review
Before You Start | Steps to Follow | What to Put in a Book Review | What to Leave Out of a Book Review | Reminders


Before You Start
You may want to read about book reviewing. For books about writing book reviews, look up BOOK REVIEWING in the Library Catalogue. Two books which might be useful are:
Webster's New World Student Writing Handbook
QEII Reference PE 1408 S6577 1988
How To Write Book Reports
QEII Reference PN 98 B7 T45 (ON RESERVE)
You may also want to read book reviews that other people have written. For help in finding reviews, ask at the Research Help Desk.
Steps to follow
1. Choose the book.
2. Read the book.
3. Make notes about the book.
4. Think about the content of the book in an effort to arrive at an appropriate theme for the review.
5. Organize your notes into an outline which incorporates your theme.
6. Write the review.
7. Edit and revise the review before recopying it.
What to Put in a Book Review
You should identify the book by giving:
• the author
• the full title
• the publisher
• the place and date of publication
• the edition
You might use some or all of the following approaches in your review:
• outline the contents of the book
• evaluate and make critical comments on the book
• use quotations or references to the new ideas in the book to illustrate your theme
• identify the author's qualifications, and any other personal information that is relevant to your discussion of the book
• place the book with reference to the author's other writings
• compare the book with a similar work by a contemporary
• point out the author's intentions, including the audience for which the book is intended
• relate the work to a social or literary trend
What to leave out of a book review
Usually a book review does not include:
• footnotes
• a bibliography
• long quotations from the book or other reviews
• information about the author's life that is not related to the theme of the review
Reminders
• There is no right way to write a book review. Book reviews are highly personal and reflect the opinions of the reviewer.
• A review can be as short as 50-100 words, or as long as 1500 words, depending on the purpose of the review.
• Before writing the review, be sure that you understand what type of review is required for your assignment.
• Keep your audience in mind! This will help define the emphasis you put on various parts of the review.
(http://www.library.mun.ca/guides/howto/write_book_review.php)


Book Reviews
What this handout is about
This handout will help you write a book review, a report or essay that offers a critical perspective on a text. It offers a process and suggests some strategies for writing book reviews.
What is a review?
A review is a critical evaluation of a text, event, object, or phenomenon. Reviews can consider books, articles, entire genres or fields of literature, architecture, art, fashion, restaurants, policies, exhibitions, performances, and many other forms. This handout will focus on book reviews.
Above all, a review makes an argument. The most important element of a review is that it is a commentary, not merely a summary. It allows you to enter into dialogue and discussion with the work's creator and with other audiences. You can offer agreement or disagreement and identify where you find the work exemplary or deficient in its knowledge, judgments, or organization. You should clearly state your opinion of the work in question, and that statement will probably resemble other types of academic writing, with a thesis statement, supporting body paragraphs, and a conclusion.
Typically, reviews are brief. In newspapers and academic journals, they rarely exceed 1000 words, although you may encounter lengthier assignments and extended commentaries. In either case, reviews need to be succinct. While they vary in tone, subject, and style, they share some common features:
• First, a review gives the reader a concise summary of the content. This includes a relevant description of the topic as well as its overall perspective, argument, or purpose.
• Second, and more importantly, a review offers a critical assessment of the content. This involves your reactions to the work under review: what strikes you as noteworthy, whether or not it was effective or persuasive, and how it enhanced your understanding of the issues at hand.
• Finally, in addition to analyzing the work, a review often suggests whether or not the audience would appreciate it.
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Becoming an expert reviewer: three short examples
Reviewing can be a daunting task. Someone has asked for your opinion about something that you may feel unqualified to evaluate. Who are you to criticize Toni Morrison's new book if you've never written a novel yourself, much less won a Nobel Prize? The point is that someone—a professor, a journal editor, peers in a study group—wants to know what you think about a particular work. You may not be (or feel like) an expert, but you need to pretend to be one for your particular audience. Nobody expects you to be the intellectual equal of the work's creator, but your careful observations can provide you with the raw material to make reasoned judgments. Tactfully voicing agreement and disagreement, praise and criticism, is a valuable, challenging skill, and like many forms of writing, reviews require you to provide concrete evidence for your assertions.
Consider the following brief book review written for a history course on medieval Europe by a student who is fascinated with beer:
Judith Bennett's Ale, Beer, and Brewsters in England: Women's Work in a Changing World, 1300-1600, investigates how women used to brew and sell the majority of ale drunk in England. Historically, ale and beer (not milk, wine, or water) were important elements of the English diet. Ale brewing was low-skill and low status labor that was complimentary to women's domestic responsibilities. In the early fifteenth century, brewers began to make ale with hops, and they called this new drink "beer." This technique allowed brewers to produce their beverages at a lower cost and to sell it more easily, although women generally stopped brewing once the business became more profitable.
The student describes the subject of the book and provides an accurate summary of its contents. But the reader does not learn some key information expected from a review: the author's argument, the student's appraisal of the book and its argument, and whether or not the student would recommend the book. As a critical assessment, a book review should focus on opinions, not facts and details. Summary should be kept to a minimum, and specific details should serve to illustrate arguments.
Now consider a review of the same book written by a slightly more opinionated student:
Judith Bennett's Ale, Beer, and Brewsters in England: Women's Work in a Changing World, 1300-1600 was a colossal disappointment. I wanted to know about the rituals surrounding drinking in medieval England: the songs, the games, the parties. Bennett provided none of that information. I liked how the book showed ale and beer brewing as an economic activity, but the reader gets lost in the details of prices and wages. I was more interested in the private lives of the women brewsters. The book was divided into eight long chapters, and I can't imagine why anyone would ever want to read it.
There's no shortage of judgments in this review! But the student does not display a working knowledge of the book's argument. The reader has a sense of what the student expected of the book, but no sense of what the author herself set out to prove. Although the student gives several reasons for the negative review, those examples do not clearly relate to each other as part of an overall evaluation—in other words, in support of a specific thesis. This review is indeed an assessment, but not a critical one.
Here is one final review of the same book:
One of feminism's paradoxes—one that challenges many of its optimistic histories—is how patriarchy remains persistent over time. While Judith Bennett's Ale, Beer, and Brewsters in England: Women's Work in a Changing World, 1300-1600 recognizes medieval women as historical actors through their ale brewing, it also shows that female agency had its limits with the advent of beer. I had assumed that those limits were religious and political, but Bennett shows how a "patriarchal equilibrium" shut women out of economic life as well. Her analysis of women's wages in ale and beer production proves that a change in women's work does not equate to a change in working women's status. Contemporary feminists and historians alike should read Bennett's book and think twice when they crack open their next brewsky.
This student's review avoids the problems of the previous two examples. It combines balanced opinion and concrete example, a critical assessment based on an explicitly stated rationale, and a recommendation to a potential audience. The reader gets a sense of what the book's author intended to demonstrate. Moreover, the student refers to an argument about feminist history in general that places the book in a specific genre and that reaches out to a general audience. The example of analyzing wages illustrates an argument, the analysis engages significant intellectual debates, and the reasons for the overall positive review are plainly visible. The review offers criteria, opinions, and support with which the reader can agree or disagree.
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Developing an assessment: before you write
There is no definitive method to writing a review, although some critical thinking about the work at hand is necessary before you actually begin writing. Thus, writing a review is a two-step process: developing an argument about the work under consideration, and making that argument as you write an organized and well-supported draft.
What follows is a series of questions to focus your thinking as you dig into the work at hand. While the questions specifically consider book reviews, you can easily transpose them to an analysis of performances, exhibitions, and other review subjects. Don't feel obligated to address each of the questions; some will be more relevant than others to the book in question.
• What is the thesis—or main argument—of the book? If the author wanted you to get one idea from the book, what would it be? How does it compare or contrast to the world you know? What has the book accomplished?
• What exactly is the subject or topic of the book? Does the author cover the subject adequately? Does the author cover all aspects of the subject in a balanced fashion? What is the approach to the subject (topical, analytical, chronological, descriptive)?
• How does the author support her argument? What evidence does she use to prove her point? Do you find that evidence convincing? Why or why not? Does any of the author's information (or conclusions) conflict with other books you've read, courses you've taken or just previous assumptions you had of the subject?
• How does the author structure her argument? What are the parts that make up the whole? Does the argument make sense? Does it persuade you? Why or why not?
• How has this book helped you understand the subject? Would you recommend the book to your reader?
Beyond the internal workings of the book, you may also consider some information about the author and the circumstances of the text's production:
• Who is the author? Nationality, political persuasion, training, intellectual interests, personal history, and historical context may provide crucial details about how a work takes shape. Does it matter, for example, that the biographer was the subject's best friend? What difference would it make if the author participated in the events she writes about?
• What is the book's genre? Out of what field does it emerge? Does it conform to or depart from the conventions of its genre? These questions can provide a historical or literary standard on which to base your evaluations. If you are reviewing the first book ever written on the subject, it will be important for your readers to know. Keep in mind, though, that naming "firsts"—alongside naming "bests" and "onlys"—can be a risky business unless you're absolutely certain.
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Writing the review
Once you have made your observations and assessments of the work under review, carefully survey your notes and attempt to unify your impressions into a statement that will describe the purpose or thesis of your review. Then, outline the arguments that support your thesis.
Your arguments should develop the thesis in a logical manner. That logic, unlike more standard academic writing, may initially emphasize the author's argument while you develop your own in the course of the review. The relative emphasis depends on the nature of the review: if readers may be more interested in the work itself, you may want to make the work and the author more prominent; if you want the review to be about your perspective and opinions, then you may structure the review to privilege your observations over (but never separate from) those of the work under review. What follows is just one of many ways to organize a review.
Introduction
Since most reviews are brief, many writers begin with a catchy quip or anecdote that succinctly delivers their argument. But you can introduce your review differently depending on the argument and audience. The Writing Center's handout on introductions can help you find an approach that works. In general, you should include:
• The name of the author and the book title and the main theme.
• Relevant details about who the author is and where he/she stands in the genre or field of inquiry. You could also link the title to the subject to show how the title explains the subject matter.
• The context of the book and/or your review. Placing your review in a framework that makes sense to your audience alerts readers to your "take" on the book. Perhaps you want to situate a book about the Cuban revolution in the context of Cold War rivalries between the United States and the Soviet Union. Another reviewer might want to consider the book in the framework of Latin American social movements. Your choice of context informs your argument.
• The thesis of the book. If you are reviewing fiction, this may be difficult since novels, plays, and short stories rarely have explicit arguments. But identifying the book's particular novelty, angle, or originality allows you to show what specific contribution the piece is trying to make.
• Your thesis about the book.
Summary of content
• This should be brief, as analysis takes priority. In the course of making your assessment, you'll hopefully be backing up your assertions with concrete evidence from the book, so some summary will be dispersed throughout other parts of the review.
• The necessary amount of summary also depends on your audience. Graduate students, beware! If you are writing book reviews for colleagues—to prepare for comprehensive exams, for example—you may want to devote more attention to summarizing the book's contents. If, on the other hand, your audience has already read the book—such as an class assignment on the same work—you may have more liberty to explore more subtle points and to emphasize your own argument.
Analysis and evaluation of the book
• Your analysis and evaluation should be organized into paragraphs that deal with single aspects of your argument. This arrangement can be challenging when your purpose is to consider the book as a whole, but it can help you differentiate elements of your criticism and pair assertions with evidence more clearly.
• You do not necessarily need to work chronologically through the book as you discuss it. Given the argument you want to make, you can organize your paragraphs more usefully by themes, methods, or other elements of the book.
• If you find it useful to include comparisons to other books, keep them brief so that the book under review remains in the spotlight.
• Avoid excessive quotation and give a specific page reference in parentheses when you do quote. Remember that you can state many of the author's points in your own words.
Conclusion
• Sum up or restate your thesis or make the final judgment regarding the book. You should not introduce new evidence for your argument in the conclusion. You can, however, introduce new ideas that go beyond the book if they extend the logic of your own thesis.
• This paragraph needs to balance the book's strengths and weaknesses in order to unify your evaluation. Did the body of your review have three negative paragraphs and one favorable one? What do they all add up to? The Writing Center's handout on conclusions can help you make a final assessment.
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In review
Finally, a few general considerations:
• Review the book in front of you, not the book you wish the author had written. You can and should point out shortcomings or failures, but don't criticize the book for not being something it was never intended to be.
• With any luck, the author of the book worked hard to find the right words to express her ideas. You should attempt to do the same. Precise language allows you to control the tone of your review.
• Never hesitate to challenge an assumption, approach, or argument. Be sure, however, to cite specific examples to back up your assertions carefully.
• Try to present a balanced argument about the value of the book for its audience. You're entitled—and sometimes obligated—to voice strong agreement or disagreement. But keep in mind that a bad book takes as long to write as a good one, and every author deserves fair treatment. Harsh judgments are difficult to prove and can give readers the sense that you were unfair in your assessment.
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For further reading
A great place to learn about book reviews is to look at examples. The New York Times Book Review, the New York Review of Books, and the Book Review Index can show you how professional writers review books.
(http://www.unc.edu/depts/wcweb/handouts/review.html)