Review Format, a Matt Musing

I stumbled upon Weekly Geek 16, which, apropos of my post yesterday, pricks my interest. One part of the discussion asks bloggers to explain the review format - if there’s one, or the rating system.This is a perfect opprtunity to explain my review system.

Objectively speaking, there is no such thing as a perfect book. What makes a perfect book is entirely a subjective manner. A casual reader, or a layover passenger would be contented with a supermarket thriller that engages him and helps mitigate boredom. A serious reader would prefer to wrestle a book, usually more lyrical and less accessible in immediate meaning, in order to establish a deeper interpretation. I’m leaning more toward the latter. An unengaging story sinks the ship, but the writing style also factors in the merit. Books that are endowed with an underlying meaning along with figurative prose usually win my favor. Because of the diverse nature of books that satisfy the pleasure of perusal, I find it difficult to accommodate different genres with a rigid rating system.

The all-time favorite titles on the left sidebar will score 5/5 on a 5-star rating system. The inadequacy of the system falls in the fact that future reads might challenge these ratings if the merit has surpassed that of the hall-of-famers. Recently I have adopted the rating system from Time Magazine, which has a little mini-book review feature called “The Skimmer,” to quickly determine for readers whether a new book is something they should either Read, Skim, or Toss. Toss would be self-explanatory. The middle position of Skim is worthy of some elaboration because its implication is two-fold. A book with a Skim rating is either one that is average/mediocre or a good quick read that probably won’t survive time’s indifference. The question of whether a Skim book should be recommended brings to my final point—expectation of a review.

My ideal review would inform readers a little bit about the plot, important themes, the major characters, and any important literary devices. Since a reader’s investment in perusing the text gives objects and motifs meaning, I tend to focus on two or three significant themes, framed by key passages, that readers might have overlooked and thus should reflect upon as they read. A “Skim” book simply would not expend such effort and investment on the readers’ part but is still worthy of a recommendation. The goal is achieve an honest opinion. Often time I succumb to the confusion between merit and recommendation. In rating a book “Read”, I entrust the readers to decide between the literary value and merit of a book versus the appeal of the book to the individual reader.

What are your thoughts on rating system?