Tuesday, 10 January 2012

UPDATE: Goodreads Reviewers Attacked by Authors

I’m kind of proud of what’s happening now.

Veronica Roth’s Two Cents 

And also Phoebe North, I do not know you, or your writing, but I really like you. I feel like we could get along. Those guidelines are extremely fair and should be incorporated, for reals, in the idealistic world of authors and bloggers.

Many people were really offended by Julie Halpern’s blog-rant about a “negative” review, which actually wasn’t so bad. But to be fair, she said she wasn’t bitter about losing the baby a few weeks into her pregnancy; I’d say she didn’t know she was bitter and pissed at the unfairness of it. She probably took it out on the first “negative” review she saw. No, seriously, hormones people. And her uterus is/was tired. I would be pissed too. Not that I’m trying to give her excuses, but when my grandfather died (though I had him in my life for 12 years) I was pissed at the world too. Also when I bake intensely (like Cake Pops), I get irrational. E.g. me yelling at my sister to “STOP STOMPING AROUND”, when she’s actually just sitting down. Stress sucks.

But the fact that authors are responding to the reviewers’ distress tells me a lot. It tells me just as much as it should tell them, when we review their work (even if the review is negative). It tells us (and them) that they care enough to stand up for reviewers (against inappropriate behavior), just as we care enough to assess their work, out of our sheer love of literature.

I mean, that’s the point, isn’t it? The common denominator is that we love literature. Reading, writing, reviewing, arguing, whatever! At least, I hope that’s the point.

Post-update: I, for one, would like to admit that when I write a negative review, I recognize the possibility of the author actually reading it and being hurt by it. I also would like to admit that that has never stopped me before, nor will it stop me in the future. Mostly because if I were an author (which I would love to be), I would not just look forward to those great reviews, but also those very creative negative reviews that actually kinda cut. It’s not the worst that could happen to me, right? And maybe I can use this to improve my writing somehow. Or maybe it will even provide some sort of inspiration. 

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