Recently The Hunger
Games has taken the nation by storm as the newest book and book-to-movie series fad. So naturally
when a book becomes incredibly popular, it also means everyone who is reading
will have something to say about it.
On Amazon.com it’s incredibly easy to leave a review about any book even
if we didn’t purchase it from their website. Which is perfect, because then reviews aren’t as biased
towards the people who wanted to purchase a desired book anyways. Currently, on Amazon The Hunger Games has 4.6 out of 5 stars
from 7,588 votes, and some of the top reviews range from the book being spectacular to below
average and overrated.
Amazon and other popular book websites always encouraging
reviews is a huge marketing tool.
People get an outlet to vent their excitement or frustration about the
book itself (and possibly can divert any annoying complaints to a company for a
poor book that distributors like Amazon and Barnes and Noble may not know
really sucks). Also, reviews are
literally a “consumer insider.” Leaving
reviews on a largely used Internet shopping site is the best place to see what
people really think void of situational peer pressure to not completely rave
about or destroy a book. And that means free reviews for Amazon for other
customers to read and determine if they were helpful. A lot of the time it’s easier to trust a review for an
everyday Average Joe than some presumptuous bookworm who has a PhD in Literature.
I personally take into consideration book reviews (or at
least the number of stars it has) if there are a large number of reviews (a
larger sample of people is indeed more reliable and accurate versus only a
handful), mostly because I don’t want to necessarily invest time and money into
a book if it’s going to end up being an awful experience. But at the same time I don’t like the
let them dictate my reading selection, but rather a suggested guideline and
maybe shift my expectations to a more appropriate level. Besides, usually only the people who
felt passionately (either positively or negatively) about a book are
the ones who write reviews.
Now do I actually take the time to write reviews? Nope. I suppose when thinking about the
impact that such a decision(a.k.a. to not write a review) contributes to the
literary culture, American culture, and most importantly Internet culture, I
realize it’s actually a lack
thereof. But at the same time, I
feel like there are larger ways to impact the thinking of others and the
Internet culture than solely writing book reviews on various online
bookstores. So the balance already
in place is a pretty good one; those that currently write reviews will continue
to write, and I will continue not to (unless I was reallyyyyy bored or feel super passionate about a specific story I suppose).
Granted though, the more experience a person has in writing, even if it’s simply writing many book reviews or blog posts, greatly contributes to overall, individual writing ability. A person can definitely exploit these opportunistic outlets to develop a unique voice and become more comfortable with a lot of the nuances that are apart of the writing process, which honestly are probably the most important parts of writing academically anyways. The question is whether or not writing is more influenced by Internet or the classroom. I personally think the classroom still influences writing in individuals more so than the Internet. And that's primarily due to the fact that most people don't write papers on the Internet. The Internet has actually caused us to condense a lot of our writing to short statements and hashtags instead of developing and supporting incredibly complex thoughts. Now I only mean this as it applies to the majority of people I observed in my life. For those who make a living blogging and writing reviews on the web, the Internet and the people on the Internet most likely influences those people a lot more in their writing.
Regardless of what category any of us falls under, we must also appreciate the significance that the Internet has given everyone the opportunity to write whatever we want about whatever books we read (and really any topic at all) through reviews and blogs and other countless writing options. We can't deny that in allowing anyone to be critic online we've actually challenged people to step up and voice opinions to the world where they may not have said much about a book or any sort of topic otherwise.
Granted though, the more experience a person has in writing, even if it’s simply writing many book reviews or blog posts, greatly contributes to overall, individual writing ability. A person can definitely exploit these opportunistic outlets to develop a unique voice and become more comfortable with a lot of the nuances that are apart of the writing process, which honestly are probably the most important parts of writing academically anyways. The question is whether or not writing is more influenced by Internet or the classroom. I personally think the classroom still influences writing in individuals more so than the Internet. And that's primarily due to the fact that most people don't write papers on the Internet. The Internet has actually caused us to condense a lot of our writing to short statements and hashtags instead of developing and supporting incredibly complex thoughts. Now I only mean this as it applies to the majority of people I observed in my life. For those who make a living blogging and writing reviews on the web, the Internet and the people on the Internet most likely influences those people a lot more in their writing.
Regardless of what category any of us falls under, we must also appreciate the significance that the Internet has given everyone the opportunity to write whatever we want about whatever books we read (and really any topic at all) through reviews and blogs and other countless writing options. We can't deny that in allowing anyone to be critic online we've actually challenged people to step up and voice opinions to the world where they may not have said much about a book or any sort of topic otherwise.
1) Is it progress for book reviews to be dominated by ordinary, everyday people instead of literary critiques? Granted literary critiques still exist and are always writing reviews as well, but what other differences can be noted about reviews done by anyone?
2) Do book reviews on the Internet impact literary culture? American culture? Internet culture?
3) Does English composition writing get more influence primarily from the Internet these days or is the classroom still the place writers develop their voice and unique style of writing?
I believe there's progress to be seen within "ordinary, everyday people" critiquing books, depending on what you define as a professional book reviewer. It seems that anyone could be good at explaining how they felt about a certain novel.
ReplyDeleteAs far as question 3 goes, I say the classroom still has quite an influence on the way we write. The internet teaches us how to communicate without non-verbal cues and let the world know how drunk we are on any given night. It's the education that shows us how to format essays, how to introduce ideas, how to wrap up a report, etc.
I agree with Jon on the third question. Most intellectuals can differentiate between the appropriate and inapproriate formatting and spelling for educational and non-educational communication purposes. I know that I'm pretty good about my grammar on social networks, but most aren't, and it really depends on the person, but I think that mostly everyone can agree that their english essays are a bit more classy thought-through and proofread than their tweets or texts.
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