Do you rate/review books you didn't finish?

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PashaRu
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Re: Do you rate/review books you didn't finish?

Post by PashaRu »

Personally, I wouldn't rate a book I didn't finish reading. I may not like it, choose to stop reading it, and feel that I have a general impression of it. But, as others have noted, I feel like it would be unfair for me to give an opinion (in the form of a rating) if that opinion were not a fully informed one. I've slogged through some pretty mediocre stuff, only to be surprised at how good or awful the ending was. Or hoping it would get better, but it remained firmly in the "mediocre" column. Only at that point is my overall opinion crystallized and I can assess it as a whole, rather than as various, disparate parts.
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Post by zeldas_lullaby »

Yeah, but what I'm saying is that I won't make any assumptions about the plot (such as you referred to as a good or awful ending); I'll just size up the writing level.

But yes, that is a disparate part, I suppose. It's an important part, to me--mainly because I get irritated easily!! :-o

-- 21 May 2015, 12:30 --

Oops, double post!
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Post by Ealasaid »

PashaRu wrote:Personally, I wouldn't rate a book I didn't finish reading. I may not like it, choose to stop reading it, and feel that I have a general impression of it. But, as others have noted, I feel like it would be unfair for me to give an opinion (in the form of a rating) if that opinion were not a fully informed one. I've slogged through some pretty mediocre stuff, only to be surprised at how good or awful the ending was. Or hoping it would get better, but it remained firmly in the "mediocre" column. Only at that point is my overall opinion crystallized and I can assess it as a whole, rather than as various, disparate parts.
I agree with this. I rarely have not finished a book unless it was just so, so awful or offensive to me. I like to give the author and the book a chance. If the books royally sucks, then it does. I move on and hope that the next one wows me. But I would never actually rate a book that I did not finish. Making a comment about not finishing the book is something I would do, but I would own it and take responsibility for not finishing it. And I do think it is strange that people just give the book 1 star, say DNF and then leave it at that. It doesn't seem fair to the author or to the people that are reading the reviews. Just my :twocents-02cents: .
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Post by moderntimes »

Occasionally I do write a book review for a book I didn't finish. My reviews don't have star-ratings however, just a brief essay on the novel and its qualities or defects, and how its themes are reactant with the world view of fiction in general.

I do however give the book my best effort, but often I'm about halfway and I already know what the book's about, its writing quality, it's characters and narrative, and so on. You don't have to finish a book to know these things. And if the book is terrible or maybe just a formulaic story line with little originality (been there done that sort of story) then you learn this early on.

Thing about my reviews is this: I don't do the typical "high school" type of review, where you just summarize the plot and say "I liked this book" or maybe comment on whether you liked the protagonist.

Instead I write reviews in the traditional New Yorker / NYT style -- a short essay about the themes of the novel, how the author presents a premise and works with it, various strengths and weaknesses in the narrative, dialogue, and story line. I never disclose plot secrets, either, so newcomers to the book can read my review and not see a spoiler.

But yeah, I think I can provide a coherent and reasonable review of a bad book after I've read about 1/3 to 1/2 of it. I just don't want to give it any more of my time than that, if it's boring or senseless or so stereotypical that you could figure out the whole story line easily. Good books of course I read to the end simply because I enjoy reading them.

By the way, my editor backs me up on my decisions to not read a book totally through. So if she says it's okay, fine with me.
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Post by ALynnPowers »

Ealasaid wrote:
PashaRu wrote:Personally, I wouldn't rate a book I didn't finish reading. I may not like it, choose to stop reading it, and feel that I have a general impression of it. But, as others have noted, I feel like it would be unfair for me to give an opinion (in the form of a rating) if that opinion were not a fully informed one. I've slogged through some pretty mediocre stuff, only to be surprised at how good or awful the ending was. Or hoping it would get better, but it remained firmly in the "mediocre" column. Only at that point is my overall opinion crystallized and I can assess it as a whole, rather than as various, disparate parts.
I agree with this. I rarely have not finished a book unless it was just so, so awful or offensive to me. I like to give the author and the book a chance. If the books royally sucks, then it does. I move on and hope that the next one wows me. But I would never actually rate a book that I did not finish. Making a comment about not finishing the book is something I would do, but I would own it and take responsibility for not finishing it. And I do think it is strange that people just give the book 1 star, say DNF and then leave it at that. It doesn't seem fair to the author or to the people that are reading the reviews. Just my :twocents-02cents: .
Could you imagine if you were reading some amazing thriller and then the book ended like. "And then they all danced a jig in the middle of the road. Twerk it, baby!"
I would feel awfully silly to have just informed a bunch of people about the author's amazing skills to tell a story.

I should really do this.... Spoiler alert!!! :lol:
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Post by bluemel4 »

I usually do this on goodreads. I will put DNF and explain why I could not finish it. I then give it a one star rating because it was not good enough for me to get into. I sometime put the book into try-again section in my bookshelves.
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Post by Ealasaid »

ALynnPowers wrote:
Ealasaid wrote:
PashaRu wrote:Personally, I wouldn't rate a book I didn't finish reading. I may not like it, choose to stop reading it, and feel that I have a general impression of it. But, as others have noted, I feel like it would be unfair for me to give an opinion (in the form of a rating) if that opinion were not a fully informed one. I've slogged through some pretty mediocre stuff, only to be surprised at how good or awful the ending was. Or hoping it would get better, but it remained firmly in the "mediocre" column. Only at that point is my overall opinion crystallized and I can assess it as a whole, rather than as various, disparate parts.
I agree with this. I rarely have not finished a book unless it was just so, so awful or offensive to me. I like to give the author and the book a chance. If the books royally sucks, then it does. I move on and hope that the next one wows me. But I would never actually rate a book that I did not finish. Making a comment about not finishing the book is something I would do, but I would own it and take responsibility for not finishing it. And I do think it is strange that people just give the book 1 star, say DNF and then leave it at that. It doesn't seem fair to the author or to the people that are reading the reviews. Just my :twocents-02cents: .
Could you imagine if you were reading some amazing thriller and then the book ended like. "And then they all danced a jig in the middle of the road. Twerk it, baby!"
I would feel awfully silly to have just informed a bunch of people about the author's amazing skills to tell a story.

I should really do this.... Spoiler alert!!! :lol:
Please write a book with an ending like this and have someone here review it. :D
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PashaRu
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Post by PashaRu »

Ealasaid wrote:Please write a book with an ending like this and have someone here review it. :D
Yes. Oh yes.

Shoe on the other foot time - I think if I wrote a book, I would feel cheated if someone reviewed it and rated it without actually reading the whole thing.

"So how was she?"

"Dude, she was amazing! I mean, she can bend her body in ways I didn't think were possible! And she's got this tattoo on her...my eyes were rolled back in my head most of the night!

Actually, we never even took our clothes off."
[Insert quote here. Read. Raise an eyebrow. Be mildly amused. Rinse & repeat.]
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Post by ALynnPowers »

PashaRu wrote:
Ealasaid wrote:Please write a book with an ending like this and have someone here review it. :D
Yes. Oh yes.

Shoe on the other foot time - I think if I wrote a book, I would feel cheated if someone reviewed it and rated it without actually reading the whole thing.

"So how was she?"

"Dude, she was amazing! I mean, she can bend her body in ways I didn't think were possible! And she's got this tattoo on her...my eyes were rolled back in my head most of the night!

Actually, we never even took our clothes off."
I honestly have no idea what you are referencing right now.
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Post by Gravy »

I rate this thread as hilarious ;)
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Post by ALynnPowers »

Graverobber wrote:I rate this thread as hilarious ;)
Yes, but did you read it all? ;)
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Post by PashaRu »

ALynnPowers wrote: I honestly have no idea what you are referencing right now.
This happens to me more than I'd care to admit. :| Things that make sense to me make no sense to anyone else. I think my brain is broken.
[Insert quote here. Read. Raise an eyebrow. Be mildly amused. Rinse & repeat.]
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Post by Gravy »

PashaRu wrote:
ALynnPowers wrote: I honestly have no idea what you are referencing right now.
This happens to me more than I'd care to admit. :| Things that make sense to me make no sense to anyone else. I think my brain is broken.
It made sense to me :shock:
ALynnPowers wrote:
Graverobber wrote:I rate this thread as hilarious ;)
Yes, but did you read it all? ;)
Yes I did :D
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Post by ALynnPowers »

PashaRu wrote:
ALynnPowers wrote: I honestly have no idea what you are referencing right now.
This happens to me more than I'd care to admit. :| Things that make sense to me make no sense to anyone else. I think my brain is broken.
I happen to know that your brain is broken.
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Post by PashaRu »

ALynnPowers wrote:I happen to know that your brain is broken.
You should. You are partly responsible.
[Insert quote here. Read. Raise an eyebrow. Be mildly amused. Rinse & repeat.]
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