How to Write a Book Review

By David Ikediuwa (Nigeria)

The art of writing a book review is a great opportunity that every good writer is given. It is an opportunity to help the next reader make the right decision. Not just that, also, the one who is writing a review is sitting in the seats of both the author and the audience. As such, there's an art to doing it. There's a best way to do it.

1. First, read the book

Reading the book is a crucial first step in writing a good review. Read the book. In fact, it is a good practice to have an unbiased first read of the book. This practice helps in seeing the book from a novel perspective. After that, it is beneficial to go for a second read. This time, you should read carefully, with a notepad and a pen, taking note of sections of the book that resonate well with you, contrasting and comparing different elements of the book, and bookmarking parts of the book that you will discuss when writing your review. While doing this, it is a good practice to take note of almost everything that you find noteworthy. How will you know what is noteworthy? You'll know. Listen while reading; your gut will tell you.

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2. Next, summarize

After a thorough read of the book and taking notes of relevant parts, the next thing is to narrow down to the main themes in the book. Here you will take the reader from the beginning of the book to the end in a couple of sentences. However, the reviewer ought to be careful not to spoil the book for its potential readers by giving away too many details.

3. Critique & Praise - a healthy mix

One good skill a reviewer ought to have is knowing when and how to praise in a constructive manner and when and how to criticize in a polite and helpful way. Even though the main audience of a review is the book's potential readers, the book's author can still benefit from the review. It’s sort of like a feedback system, with an opportune to see a book through the lens of an unbiased third party. Here the review writer should talk about what the author did well —it could be anything. In fact, the littlest ones go a long way in appreciating the efforts of the book's author. On the other hand, aspects where the book lacked could be pointed out, again in a helpful way.

4. Talking about the book analytically

Next, talk about the book analytically. This is where you cut through the book, piercing different parts. Analytically discuss the different parts both distinctly and as a whole. Here you will talk about: the setting employed in the book, how the author developed his characters, and the style employed by the author. If possible, you could compare the author's writing style with other authors' writing styles of a similar genre.

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Furthermore, you will discuss the underlying themes portrayed in the book.

5. Deciding who the ideal audience is

A good reviewer is one who can know the exact matching audience that a book was originally written for. Actually, try to match the right readers with the right books.

While reading, the reviewer should have known the book's ideal audience. So, in writing his review, the reviewer should clearly communicate who that ideal audience is. This saves readers time and ensures the right books fall into the right hands.

6. Personalize the review

Another thing to keep in mind while writing a review is that you are writing for yourself first. You are writing so that you can decide if a book was written for you or not, assuming you are the one sitting in the audience's seat.

7. Conclusion and Recommendation

This is where the curtains are drawn to a close. Here, you give a brief rundown of what you've said in the review contrasting with the introduction. It should be consistent with why you wrote the review, as some readers glance through the conclusion before going into the body of the review. Therefore, the reviewer should be careful to bring the sail to a safe landing. Of course, the conclusion should end with a recommendation. The recommendation should be as clear and specific as possible.

So that's it, guys. With these, you too can write a fantastic review that will help readers make well-informed decisions about the next book they will buy.

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