A Recipe For a Persuasive Book Review

Posted on January 21, 2014

Book reviews typically evaluate recently-written works. They offer a brief description of the text’s key points and often provide a short appraisal of the strengths and weaknesses of the work.

Readers sometimes confuse book reviews with book reports, but the two are not identical. By contrast, book reviews often appear in many professional works: magazines, newspapers, and academic journals. They typically range from 300-500 words, but may be longer or shorter. A book review gives readers a sneak peek at what a book is like and whether or not the reviewer enjoyed it.

1. Sum up the book. This is the easy part, and half of what most people think a book review is. Put the book in a nutshell. Keep summarizing it until you’ve got everything covered clearly.
2. Establish your credibility. Let the reader know who you are, especially if you’re the intended reader, or otherwise have impressive credentials.  Just a sentence or two.
3. Pass judgment. This is the other half of a book review for most people. Is this book good or bad? Would you encourage others to read it? This is the time for you to say so. Put that second in your review. Explain why and to make your judgment persuasive. How did the book affect you? How did the author achieve the effects he or she did? Give specific examples, and move from passing judgment to explaining the book. That comes third.
4. Put the book in context. You might have been able to get this information from looking at the book’s cover and introduction, or you might need to do a little research. What categories does this book fall into? Is it science fiction or fantasy? Is it the first of its kind or an imitation? The author’s first book or fifteenth? Spend some time relating this book to others in its category to further explain the book and your judgment of it.
5. Write a headline. This should have your point of view summed up.

Does this seem like more work that you have time for?  Then read An Uber-Simple Book Review.