An Author's View of the 3 Star Review

For the 3 Star Review Event I asked Mary Lowry to let us know how she felt about a 3 star Review. I've had a chaotic week and I haven't gotten around to getting my post up yet on my opinion. I assure you I will get that posted soon. In the meantime, here are her thoughts!

I think authors often hate 3 star reviews because no one wants to be mediocre. A 4 or 5 star review means the work was fantastic. And a 1 or 2 star review can often easily be dismissed with the thought that the themes of the work offended the reader.

I’ve experienced this easy dismissal of a bad review. After my novel The Earthquake Machine received a 2 star review from a reader on Goodreads, I just let it go with a shrug. My novel is certainly not going to be for everyone. (I mean, the title references a vibrator, for heaven’s sake!) But my outraged boyfriend scanned through the reviewers Goodreads page and saw that Obama’s book The Audacity of Hope was on her list of Worst Books Ever. Was that reader EVER going to give a good review to my adventure story full of aggressive and intellectual feminism and a questioning of the patriarchal aspects of the Christian faith? Heck no.

While a 1 or 2 star review says either, “This book was poorly written,” or “This book offended me because it conflicted with my morals and belief system,” a 3 star reviews says, “This book had some good things about it, but I didn’t love it (or hate it) with a purple passion.” Of course writers who work for years crafting a novel don’t want a “bleh” response to their work. But in my humble author’s opinion, I love that book reviewers have a way to rate a book that says there are many things about the book that they enjoyed, even if the book didn’t ignite them with enthusiasm or outrage.

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