How to write a good Book review?
What is a book review?
A book review is a form of criticism in which you, the reviewer, describe the book and analyze it based on its content and style. Books can be reviewed for magazines, periodicals, websites, or schoolwork. The length of a book review might vary from a paragraph to a very long essay. It all depends on the purpose of reviewing and the quality of the book.
Have you ever written a book review? Do you have any idea about how to write a book review? This post will show how to review a book and the most important elements you have to include in this review. You can’t obviously review a book that you haven’t read before. So, when reading a book that you intend to review, consider the following tips:
Before reading:
- Title – what does tell you?
- Preface or introduction – it gives an important impression about the book and an idea about its scope.
- Look at the table of content, if any. It shows how the book’s chapters are arranged.
While you are reading the book:
You can ask these questions:
- What is the genre of the book?
- What is the author’s point of view?
- Make as many notes as possible?
- See if the concepts are well-defined
- See if the story or the content is well-articulated
- What is the writer’s style?
- What techniques did he use?
- Why is the book popular? What did the book achieve?
You can use the following table as a guide to write a well-articulated book review
Author’s specific information:
- Author’s name,
- place and date of birth,
- publication date and place,
- pages,
- price,
- and publisher.
Summary of the book:
- What was the story about, in a nutshell?
- Who were the main characters?
- What are the main events?
- What did the main characters do in the story?
Writing styles and techniques:
- What style and techniques did the writer use to write his book?
- is flashback used?
- Did he use figurative language?
- Did he use the descriptive, argumentative, expository, persuasive style?
- Is the work original?
Opinion and Recommendations:
- Do you like the book?
- What is your favorite chapter or character?
- What part you don’t like?
- Would you recommend this book to someone, why?
