Carlene Havel's Blog: Carlene - Posts Tagged "reviews"

I was reminded this morning that not everyone will enjoy every book. While looking through some of the classics on Amazon, I noticed Les Miserables has an average rating of four out of five stars. Really? My curiosity stirred, I checked reviews on several other books generally considered to be classics. Yep, mixed reviews! This should encourage every author who's been disappointed in a reader's reaction. To borrow from the insight of Abe Lincoln, you can please some of the people some of the time...not all of the people all of the time. To take the homespun wit a step further, if someone calls you a donkey, ignore him. If the next five people you meet also call you a donkey, put on a saddle and start eating hay. It's tricky to balance feedback with that inner voice, but both have wisdom to offer.

I'm easily distracted. Yesterday, looking through the free ebooks on a website, I noticed the classic Moby Dick was one of the offerings. Then I noticed the average rating - four stars. Assuming many people had awarded the coveted five star rating, I became curious (i.e., sidetracked). So I read the narratives accompanying the one and two star ratings. It's easy to make me smile, but takes some effort ot make the laugh aloud. These reviews did it! Obviously some of the reviewers read Moby Dick as a school assignment--and they were annoyed mostly by the book's length. Along with the usual complaints about lack of plot, too much description, and difficulty following the action, one comment totally captivated me. The second most boring book I've ever read, the reviewer said. I spent far too much time wondering what took first prize. The Scarlet Letter? A Tale of Two Cities? It's a mystery I cannot solve. Oh, yeah, now back to what I was doing before I saw Moby DIck on the freebie list...