Ever had the experience of being assigned a book review, reading the book, working on your write-up, and then not receiving the A+ you thought you would? You probably wrote a report instead of a review--they aren't the same thing!
So, how do you write a successful book review? First of all, keep in mind that you're basically writing an argumentative or persuasive paper. You are trying to convince your reader to read (or avoid) the book you just read. As such, you need all the elements of other papers of this sort: a thesis, supporting evidence, and an explanation of how your supporting evidence proves your thesis.
Introduction
As with other persuasive papers you have written, you want to start out with a hook--something that will excite your reader's interest. You don't have to have liked the book to do this; at this point you're just trying to get someone to read your review. Somewhere in your intro, you need the title and author of the book, as well as a short summary. When I say short, I mean two or three sentences! Most importantly, you need to clearly state your opinion of the book, along with specific reasons for your opinion.
Body Paragraphs
Here is where you prove your opinion of the book you read. Below are some questions to get you started. They aren't meant for you to go through and answer in order; they're meant to help you decide what you did and didn't like about the book so that you can write about those elements.
Could you identify with the main character? Did they seem like a real person? Was he/she likeable? Could you picture them clearly? Was there enough description?
Did the other characters seem believable?
Did the place seem like a believable place? Did you feel like you were there? Was there enough description of it?
Was the story itself interesting? Did it seem too slow or too fast? Did you believe that it could have happened? Even the most outlandish sci-fi tale should somehow draw the reader into a sense of credibility.
Was the climax/resolution satisfying, or was it a let-down? Why?
Do you feel like the main character learned something important? Did they change by the end of the story?
Did you enjoy the author’s writing style? Why or why not? (Style=the way the author writes. Long sentences/short sentences, lots of figurative language/very straightforward, linear plot/skips around in time or space, multiple narrators, challenging vocabulary, etc)
What was a favorite part of the book? Why?
What was a part that you didn’t like? Why?
Conclusion
As with conclusions for other types of writing, you want to make sure that you restate your opinion in some way. You might also use the conclusion to recommend the book to a specific type of reader (even if you didn't like it--who might?) or to compare it to books, movies, or t.v. shows that others might have seen.
Remember...
The point of a review is not to tell your reader what a book is about. The point of a review is to help a reader understand what the experience of reading the book was like so that they can decide if they want to read it, too. A review needs to be more useful than a summary or a simple "It was good." Check out the book reviews on this very blog or read some samples from a variety of sources here--they aren't all A+ reviews, but they will give you some good idea of what's out there!
Comments