As an amateur reviewer myself, I was always going to answer “no” to this question from The New York Times prompts on cultural criticism. However, I am glad that both professional and amateur reviewers are writing online. These two types of reviews serve different purposes for me and I enjoy them both.
Professional reviews tend to feel more formal. They often use a wider vocabulary and range of references. They’ve clearly taken a lot of time to write. Many focus on more literary works (not always my favorite type of book to read!). I’ve also noticed that professional reviewers have a funny quirk, where books with titles that lend themselves to metaphors will be referenced by multiple critics. For instance, a book that has a musical reference in the title or themes will almost certainly be described as symphonic, discordant, or some other music related term in multiple professional reviews. I don’t often decide to read a book based on these reviews alone. I do like that they keep me aware of the latest books coming out though. As someone who enjoys essays and books on books, I also simply enjoy professional reviews as a genre of reading.
I think reviews written by us amateurs tend to be a little more varied, as we each bring our own goals and personal style to the endeavor. There are two types of blogger reviews I tend to love the most. The first shares some qualities with a professional review. The blogger engages with the content of the book and/or situates this book in the context of other published works. These reviews are also often of nonfiction or more literary fiction. They strike me as something that takes a lot of time and effort. I admire them a lot and would like to be able to achieve more of this style myself.
The other type of blogger review that I enjoy has almost of the opposite strengths. These are reviews by bloggers who bring a lot of personality to their posts. They might be funny or achieve a conversational tone that makes me feel like I’m hearing from a smart friend. They aren’t less well written than the first kind of review; the approachable, fun writing style is something I’d admire in a published novel. This type of review also focuses on one of the best parts of amateur reviews, which is the reader’s reaction to the book. When I’m looking for a book to read, I want to know what the reading experience is going to be like. This type of review is so helpful for learning that. I think I currently write reviews that focus on the personal, but my style is pretty plain. I wouldn’t mind bringing some of this more fun approach into my own writing as well.
Do you think professional reviewers bring something special to a review? Do you have a preference for reading or writing reviews with some of the qualities I talked about here?
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