How to write a book review in three steps
A basic guide for new reviewers
Knowing how to review a book is a very important skill that every reader should have, especially if you want to start a blog about books. Today, on Instagram, Medium, and even YouTube we see a lot of book reviews. Of course, there are extremely good reviews and others that don’t hit the spot.
The best review I have read was written by a professor at my University. His writing was so good and attractive that it made me want to read that book he was talking about. At the end of the day, that is the goal of a good review, redirect us to the book in question. A good review meets the following characteristics:
• Grab the readers attention
• Properly substantiate why the book in question should be read (or not, it can also be a negative review)
• It is brief
In this story, I want to teach you how to write that kind of review. The way I have learned to do it is through my writing courses at the University. The teachers insisted that for our professional performance it was essential to know how to write texts of this type with the highest possible quality. But first, I would like to make a necessary clarification, which might seem obvious, but it is not. Not every text that refers to a book to comment on it in some way is a review.
What is NOT a review?
- A review is not a summary of the book. In fact, publishers often ask their reviewers not to say too much so that readers don’t lose their curiosity. This has all the logic, many readers will not find interest in reading a book of which they already know all the details.
- A review is not an analysis of a book, nor a critical article. Especially because to analyze a book you need to tell a lot about its content and this goes against the very purpose of the review, which is to cause curiosity in the viewer.
Having seen what a review is, we are going to see each of the steps we have to follow to make one.
Step 1. Read the book carefully
Of course, you have to read the book, not missing a page. In addition, you must make sure that your reading is attentive so that you can capture the true essence of what you are reading. These are some tips that I give you to read a book to make a review of it later.
• If you are reading nonfiction, try to grasp the main idea that runs throughout the book from the beginning and analyze how each part relates to that idea.
• Underline the phrases that most attract your attention, you can also extract them to a notebook or a separate document on your PC.
• Take notes of your impressions so that later you can insert them in your review.
• Reread whenever necessary to better understand a passage or even to enjoy it more than once.
Step 2. Write the first draft of your review
It is time to write, but before starting I recommend that you organize your ideas well. To help you, I bring you a list of the elements that you should include in your review.
• Some information about the book such as author, publisher, date, and place of publication. In addition, it is very useful to provide the reader with information on where he can buy it.
• What is the theme of this book and how is it developed (not telling much, of course)
• What is new or interesting about this book, that is, why the reader should consider reading it.
• If it is a bad book, what is the reason, what are its deficiencies, what other books of the same type have better quality. Recommending alternatives is very good because that way you don’t leave the reader lost and overwhelmed with so much pessimism.
• Your first impressions when reading it, and what contributed to your personal growth. This adds a human touch to the review and makes your readers more empathetic to what you write.
Step 3. Edit your review carefully.
This step should be followed when preparing any writing. Check the grammar of what you wrote and the spelling. The cleaner your text, the more readers will trust you and, therefore, the more safely they will read the book you recommend and future reviews you make.
At this point, you should also stop for a moment to think about the title of your review, because “Review of” does not sound very flashy. That should rather be the subtitle. So put all your creativity in motion.
I hope you enjoyed reading, if so consider following me to read more stories like this one. Leave me your ideas on this topic in the comments.
