Sunday, September 20, 2015

Sunday Discussion: DNF Reviews


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?

2 comments:

  1. 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.

    Also, just wanted to let you know that I love your discussion posts, so keep up the good work!

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    1. 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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