how to write a book review example

how to write a book review example

How to Write a Persuasive Book Review

1. Introduction

We all have opinions and like to express them. Imagine the sense of satisfaction when you have shared what you believe to be specific and helpful information with a crowd of people. More individuals may be helped than you realize. One way to get a message across is by writing a book review. Book reviews can spread the word about a good read and help to steer readers in the direction of great books. They can be the deciding factor on whether a novel is published or not. A book review can be formal or informal. Sometimes the best reviews are the informal ones written by individuals who share a similar outlook as you. Reviews can be quite persuasive. This pack of information will prove both instructive and useful in providing a method of writing persuasively, thus positively influencing the reader. Step one in this process would be to select a book; one that you feel strongly about. Keep in mind the intended audience of the review, when selecting a book to review. If it is for a younger audience, select a book that will keep the audience interested and involved. The initial piece of information that you need to gather is some basic bibliographical details concerning the book. These will feature prominently at the beginning of your review. Now would also be a good time to find out some background information on the author and possibly the book itself. This will help in understanding what the author’s intentions were in writing the book and whether or not the author was successful in getting the message across. An informative review is a review that is backed by good information. This will help in being able to persuade the reader in believing what you are saying. Keep in mind that you do not want to give away too much of the book’s content. This is a review, not a storytelling session. Only reference information that is needed to illustrate a point in your review. This in turn may even provoke the reader to go and learn more about the book. With the mentioning of specifically selected details, the reader will see that the reviewer has invested both time and thought in the review simply by analysis of the given details.

2. Understanding the Book

Understanding the book is always the vital element to create an excellent book review, even if it’s a book on your favorite topic. Understand who the author is trying to persuade. In most cases, the author is going to be trying to persuade people to agree with what they are writing or to purchase their product. In the case of a book, it is to persuade the reader to buy it and sometimes fiction books are aimed just for an entertaining read, so in most cases, the author is trying to sell an idea to the reader. Find the thesis of the book. Most of the time, it will be at the beginning of the book and the author will state clearly what their intention is. Other times, it will be an exploration of several ideas which combine into the author’s opinion. With the thesis identified, you can now follow the author’s works to back up and or sometimes even disprove their thesis. Put the book into your own words. This helps to make sure that you have understood the book on completion and is a good point to confirm to someone else that you have understood what it is about. Disconnect from the book. After putting the book into your own words, you can begin to think about what you have learned from the book. It is important to note that this is not what you already knew on the subject, but what the author has taught you. Take a break from the book and create a list of things you remember from it. Compare the list to what you wrote about the book and see if you have identified the book’s main ideas.

3. Crafting a Compelling Review

Start your review by writing the name of the book, the author, the genre of the book and a couple of sentences about the book, fiction or non-fiction. Show the reader the setting of your review. When it comes to the body and your opinion of the book, ensure you back it up with information, an effective technique is to write as if you were telling a story to someone. Start with the good aspects and slowly progress to the faults of the book. Remember not to start a debate, if you feel it necessary to criticize the book too much, state that you feel the author has potential to write a better book next time. How to write a book review expressing a 0.8: this is a good method to get across to the author that the book wasn’t too bad, and it offers them constructive criticism. A fault-finding method directly will discourage the author. If you feel that a book is not worth reading, an effective technique is to write your own ending to the book giving the author an idea of what could be done next time. This is the most effective way to tell an author to take a second attempt at a book. Always remember to make a connecting summary between each of your opinions.

When assigned to write a persuasive review, summarize how the book is written, your opinion of the message it sends and the type of people who would like to read it, remember to be honest and think deeply, but don’t feel as if you need to criticize something which has no faults. A compelling review will give the reader an understanding of the book, while indicating to the author just how beneficial the review is regarding the improvement of their book. Attract the readers’ attention by comparing a few books by the same author or on the same genre. Showing a persuasive manner with a positive or negative opinion will grant the reader an understanding on whether the reviewer enjoyed the book and its rewarding, teaching the reader writing this review for study purposes to take a stand. How to write a persuasive review, and effectively tell whether a book is worth reading.

4. Supporting Your Arguments

There are many ways in which a book review can support your argument. In order to become a convincing book review, it must be written well and provide lots of evidence as to why the argument that is presented is valid. A good persuasive book review example would be, “A cliff-hanger if I have ever read one. What a spin of fantastic writing this author has intertwined into a masterpiece!” Now that sounds extremely enthusiastic. In order to make such a positive comment, you need to back it up with evidence. This may be in the form of a quote from the book. An example of this would be, “The last thing she desires to do is leave her small town in California.” You can tell this because only 13 lines and 3 paragraphs contain dialogue from people trying to get Kat to tell how to solve the secret to curing cancer. This is a good way to provide evidence, but the review can only get better when a close analysis and evaluation of the quote, passage, event, or setting is written. Close analysis and evaluation is the juice of a review. This is where the reviewer shows they have really read into what has been written and have tried to understand the author’s true intentions. A what, how, why approach is the best way to conduct an analysis. First, you explain what has happened and then explain how it happened. Finally, explain why it happened. This can be summed up in an evaluation. Your rating is an analysis.

5. Conclusion

In conclusion, you can use this book to enhance your understanding of our world, or to reexamine your own perspective. Upon completion, you will hopefully learn something about others and, more importantly, about yourself. Maybe you will even be inspired to take a stance on an issue. Step into the world of argument and judgment. This may be a more effective world to live in. By knowing how to argue and how to judge, you can satisfy a deep intellectual yearning. At the same time, you can foster understanding and, just maybe, make the world a little better. Also, keep in mind that this book can be used as a guide on current issues. With this manual, hopefully, you will be able to write a well-constructed and persuasive book review. Finally, I would like my readers to consider something. Now that you have joined me in following Grendel’s maddening quest to know the world, consider the world you live in. In the most private part of your mind, in your own strongbox, what do you think? About the cosmos, the earth, plants, animals, your fellows? What is your take on your own theole, your own philosophy? And how did you come to that opinion? Most likely you have skated through it all, taking for granted a million and one things—shrugging eternal issues. Grendel was a symbol of one who took a stand—not the right one perhaps—and looked at things hard in the face, stripping them to the bone. Thus spoke The (12th) and so say I.