Why It’s 100% Okay to Write Negative Reviews | Book Snacks Babbles

Book Snacks Babbles is a discussion feature here at Book Snacks where I talk about all things bookish & bloggish! For more info, check out my intro post here. 

Hello everyone and welcome! As part of an attempt to follow one of my resolutions for this year (to write at least 1 discussion post per week), I’m back here today with another discussion post for you all! This topic was actually pretty unplanned; I was going to go with another topic for this week, but I decided to do this one instead because writing negative reviews is generally something of a gray area for me, and I find it to be a pretty interesting debate. It’s always kind of hard writing them, especially when it’s a book that a) you REALLY wanted to like, and/or b) it’s a VERY popular book loved by the nations—but then, it could also be kind of fun. If you’re looking for some inspiration or motivation to post that drafted negative review, read on for today’s post will be dedicated to why writing negative reviews is totally OKAY!

1. They offer a different perspective on a book.

Whether the book is popular or not, negative reviews are useful and essential because they show us the other side. The side where it’s not all sunshine and rainbows, you know? Particularly in the case of a hyped book; it’s refreshing to see an opinion of the book where the less-than-perfect aspects are shown. And I’m talking from personal experience; whenever I see a more negative review of a very hyped book, it’s interesting to see why the reviewer didn’t like it. It gives me the opportunity to really judge if the book is a good fit for me or not, among other things. So if you’re ever worrying about the response your negative review might get—don’t sweat it! The bookish community is always really understanding and will instead appreciate the fact that you shared your thoughts on it, even if they were less than stellar.

2. They offer an amazing opportunity for discussion. 

Just as positive reviews (of hyped books, especially) bring out great discussion, negative reviews do the same. Why? Well, it’s kind of obvious; in a negative review, there are usually several aspects of the novel that the reader perhaps did not enjoy, and those aspects generally provide for interesting topics of discussion. For example, perhaps you didn’t enjoy the plot of a novel because it dragged out too much. Topics like the types of plots you usually DO enjoy, or ways the book could’ve been better, are things to talk about. For hyped books, you may be even more worried about the negative review. But never fear! If you didn’t enjoy a popular novel, write about it! Don’t be afraid to post that negative review, for it might just open up the gateway to many new ideas and conversation with other bloggers.

3. They give you the chance to RANT.

Everyone likes a long little rant every once in a while, right? And there’s nothing more satisfying sometimes, to simply let out all your frustrations over a book. Of course, it’s important to still remain respectful to the author and to people who did enjoy the book, but your opinion stays the same, yes? It’s useless to keep your opinion on a book to yourself just because you didn’t like it—by sharing it, you’ll be able to accept the parts of the book that made you mad or frustrated (if there were any parts like that).

4. You will most likely be able to find someone else who shares your opinion.

The best thing about the book blogging community is the fact that there’s so many people out there, there’s almost no chance of you NOT being able to find someone sharing similar ideas as you. YOU ARE NOT ALONE! In sharing your negative review, it opens up the possibility that people who share the same idea will see it—and you will no longer be the only black sheep! (Not that there’s anything wrong with being a black sheep, mind you.) Believe me, it always feels better when you find someone else who also didn’t enjoy the book! You have nothing to lose by posting a negative review, really. Unless you count gaining a new bookish friend as a loss…which you really shouldn’t! 😛

5. What you found to be negative, might be someone else’s positive.

Everyone isn’t the same! Say, your tastes in books might be different from the reading tastes of your next-door neighbor. A person across the country in, say, Antarctica might hate the exact books you love, or vice versa. You might hate the love triangle in the book you read, but someone else might love that kind of thing. You never know! Just because you disliked a book doesn’t mean everyone else will, and in sharing your thoughts on it, who knows? Maybe a fellow blogger will stumble upon it and find that the book you seemed to dislike seems to be right up his or her alley. So really, you’re doing yourself and others a favor by posting a negative review.

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Aaaaaand, that’s a wrap! There are tons of more reasons to name for why writing negative reviews is perfectly fine, but we’d be here for hours if I were to list them all! Which means it’s now up to YOU all to continue the discussion. Here are some questions to get you started!

• What do you think of writing negative reviews?
• What other reasons are there as to why writing negative reviews is perfectly fine and useful?
• Have you ever had those times where you were unsure over whether you should post your review or not?

Even if you’re not a reviewer, you can still join in the discussion—in fact, you should! 🙂 How do you feel about reading negative reviews? Do they do more harm than good? What do you love most about negative reviews?

Let me know whatever thoughts you may have below! Discussion is always lots of fun, so don’t hesitate to join in!