Every Sunday I find a new bookish topic to write about. Have an idea for a discussion post? Just leave a comment or email me at christinathebookreader@gmail.com
Today I want to talk about DNF reviews. What do you think about them? Do you hate it when people review a book after DNFing? Or do you like to know more?
I'm on the fence about DNFing. It very rarely happens that I DNF a book. It's stupid, I know. But here's what I'm like while reading a book I don't want to finish:
Oh, but what if it gets really good, and I'm going to miss the good part by stopping? And I'm just stopping in the middle of the book and now I have a stomach ache I HAVE to finish this book otherwise I think I might cry.
Yea, really. What's wrong with me? I get this nasty feeling when I consider DNFing that I just feel sick. Which is why I tend to completely avoid books that I'm not enthralled about. You can see why haha. I generally don't read many reviews before I read a book. I want to go in with an unbiased opinion, even if the book is surrounded by a lot of hype. But reviews that I tend to read are five starred and DNF reviews. I want to see why someone loved a book. And I want to know what made the stop reading. Is there almost no plot? Is it super slow? Does the main character annoy people? These are things I like to know before going in. A kind of "Should I actually read this book" as it were.
If I see a large number of DNFs, I'm not likely to read it myself. Simply negative reviews, I feel that I can make the judgement myself. But when 50% of the readers couldn't even finish the book, we have a problem.
I don't like writing DNF reviews. I feel bad writing them. The author worked hard to publish this book. But obviously something wasn't working for the target audience.
I could talk for a very long time about more thoughts on this. But I don't want to bore you. What are your thoughts on DNFing and DNF reviews?
I used to be rather similar in this regard, but more often now if I hate the book I'm more eager to DNF it. I don't have the time to spend on things that make me angry or irritated. When I do DNF I try to write a short review to explain why. Even if books have bad reviews, I try to give them a chance, because I've found myself on the opposite side of many other reviewers in the past.
ReplyDeleteAlso, just wanted to let you know that I love your discussion posts, so keep up the good work!
Thanks! I've been so busy and blugh about reading and blogging lately it can be tough to come up with things to write!
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