It doesn't have to be you | Bad reviews & one-star ratings by Faye Snowden

Question of the Week: 

Not every book can be a stone-cold classic. Do you seek out only the 5-star reads or is a book just as enjoyable if it is a 3-star read? Not an all-timer, but enjoyable, nonetheless. Where’s the line for recommending a book to someone else?

I had the best plan for this post! It was going to be beautiful, perfect, and most of all, useful. It was going to be, as I tell my grandkids when they are happily making art, glorious! 

I planned on saying that good books are like good poetry. They show us the ordinary world in ways we’ve never seen before with the help of a strong narrative and electric prose. These are the books that change lives. I even had examples! Read Caste by Isabel Wilkerson and you’ll never think about race the same way again. Check out Ann Petry’s novel The Street because you’ll finally see how not one place in America is safe from the tragic beauty inherent in the Gothic. That book explores this country’s dark side.

And then I read James Ziskin’s earlier post on this subject and threw the entire plan out the window. Defenestration, y’all. (I absolutely love that word, and yes, I’ll say it every chance I get.)

Jim's friend Tim-because-that’s-his-name’s response to eating a bad meal at a restaurant (Eh, I’ll eat again), reminded me of my own rule about giving bad reviews. I don’t believe in badmouthing books in public. I know, hot take, but hear me out. 

I’m not saying that I’ve never given a bad review in my entire life. Many years ago I excoriated an absolutely terrible audio version of a book of poetry that I loved. A short time later I lamented over a prize-winning book that I couldn’t believe ever made it to the winners’ podium. Believe me, I thought, not everyone deserves a trophy. I might have gone on blathering forever about my unasked-for-opinions to anyone mildly interested, but then, something stopped me. 

I wrote a book.

To say writing is hard is the understatement of the century. But to say that writing is as easy as opening a vein (Red Smith), the scariest just before you start (Stephen King), or that easy reading is damn hard writing (purportedly Nathaniel Hawthorne) barely touch the daring required to stare down that blank page. And for myself, I would say that I learned how to write a novel on my first, my fifth, and frankly my sixth novel. Every writing session felt like stepping into the arena with a pissed-off, derisive lion who plays with his food. I don’t want my one- or two-star review to stop an author who is trying to find their rhythm and style. I figure if they are truly studying the craft and learning as they go, they may eventually write something recommendation worthy. 

Someone said to me once, “How will they know that the book is bad if someone doesn’t tell them?” Fair enough, but Baby, does it have to be you? If you don’t say something, does that mean no one will? Not their agent or editor or their beta readers? Not their fanbase, or even themselves looking back on something they wrote ten years ago and realizing with their now hard-won craft experience, is rubbish? 

I’ll close by saying that I don’t judge other people for giving bad reviews, and I understand why readers need candid ones, but it’s just something I’ve chosen not to do, especially as a published author. I want writers to keep writing until they find their groove or decide that it’s not for them. Because as Octavia Butler said, “You don't start out writing good stuff. You start out writing crap... and then gradually you get better at it.”

And for the record, I would definitely recommend anything written by Octavia Butler regardless of how many stars it received.