How to Write a Book Review

How to Write a Book Review

How to Write a Book Review

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A book is the second paradise for all passionate readers and perhaps it’s the best friend for a person who’s either seeking insights in life or suffering days of utter loneliness and tranquility. However, reading a book and reviewing the same are two different things. While some would read books merely for the sake of reading a book, there are avid readers who would read them critically, analyze and understand every bit of it. Chances are that a person, who reads the book thoroughly, looks for critical analysis, evaluates author perspectives and the likes will make a better book reviewer at the end of the day. However, in case you are bothered how to write a book review, then here are 5 easy steps that can assist you in perfecting the skill of writing a book review with convincing writing skills and utmost detailing attached to the write-up.

#Step 1 – Read the book with the utmost attention

First things first; you need to read that particular book quite carefully in order to evaluate the same. To be precise, you should prioritize evaluating the author’s perspective; accumulate all information from extensively prepared journals, archived texts from digital libraries and the likes.

While reading the book, you need to be quite careful in the matter of understanding its theme and what message does the book delivers to the readers at the end of the day.

#Step 2 – Consider taking notes in between

Merely reading a book carefully isn’t really sufficient for you to understand how to write a book review. While reading the book or reading through other supplementary journals, make sure that you’re taking notes and jotting down each of the accumulated references carefully.

This would help you to present relevant evidence while reviewing a book and taking a slant. In case any thought comes to your mind, you may choose to record instances, make audio recordings and save files carefully so that you can always refer to the evidence and written documents in support of your slants.

#Step 3 – Recognize and learn about all the major themes of the book

This is yet another vital point to be considered when it comes to writing a book review. While writing the review, the theme is one crucial aspect you need to focus on. Thus, before you proceed to write the review, make sure that you’re going analyzing the themes of the book thoroughly. It is to be noted that a single book may have multiple themes or a single theme in the form of a universal idea and perspective.

If you are looking for an easy way to determine the theme of any particular world then the best way to do so is by summing up the entire theme in a single word or phrase. For example, the theme of Macbeth, the famous play by William Shakespeare can be destruction caused due to overambitious greed and a desire for acquiring power. So, you may choose words such as “destruction” “greed” “ambition” and the likes to describe the theme of Macbeth.

#Step 4 – Now consider determining the author’s writing style

Now that you’re done determining the themes used and talked about in the book, consider determining the author’s writing style as well. You get to figure out whether the writing style of the author belongs to that of the Victorian period, or the Romantic era, whether the genre of writing belongs to Melodrama or it’s a Tragedy; so on and so forth.

After figuring out the writing style used in the book, you need to evaluate and understand whether the style fits its group of readers or in case there’s a further scope for contradictions or a slant you may wish to put forth. Depending on the entire evaluation and analysis of the writing style, consider initiating the task of book review writing for your target group of audience.

#Step 5 – Look for and take note of all the literary devices used in the book

The use of literary devices in books is one vital aspect to be considered if you are aiming to come up with well-composed and convincing reviews at the end of the day. See if there’re imageries, allusions, foreshadowing, allegory, metaphors, pathetic fallacies, hyperbole or personifications used in the book. On recognizing the same, consider taking note of all relevant aspects, and literary techniques used in any particular context of the book to define certain situations.

While writing a book review you need to consider all literary devices used in the book and explain their application wit justified statements. So, this is one step which is to be considered crucial for perfect book review writing.

#Step 6 – Sit down, think and figure out all the unique aspects of the book

Your book review should solve the purpose of highlighting all the unique aspects found in the book. See if the genre or the primary theme of the book is beyond stereotypes, figure out whether the character portrayals are different from what has been tried and tested till date; so on and so forth.

Every unique point, perspective and character portrayal that may seem to be unique, enticing and path-breaking, consider taking note of the same and use them as references while drafting the final book review.

#Step 7 – Consider writing in simple language; avoid using ambiguous contents

This is yet another vital step and suggestion to be considered if especially you’re wondering how to write a book review for school. You cannot expect to come up with complex write-ups and use ambiguous phrases, which would only look vague and inappropriately explained at the end of the day. If you wish to explore how to write a book review for school or for any other purpose, then the use of simple language is the first and foremost thing to be considered if you want your target audience to relate to what you depict or explain.

Major Takeaways

As part of an additional insight and helpful guidance on how to write a book review with examples, references, and proper evidence, here are few add-ons that might come into play in the long run. Simply consider taking a look at the helpful points listed below.

• Never miss out on adding a heading to your book review. Include the name of the author, place of publication: name of the publisher, publication date, and the total number of pages.
• Add a catchy and reader-oriented introduction so that it could impress your target audience right at the very beginning.
• While adding a conclusion to your book review, consider identifying the strength and weakness of the book and its plot, and talk about how things could be improved or whether the piece is recommended for a certain group of readers and the likes.
• Before submitting or publishing the book review, it is absolutely important for you to revise the entire composition, go through the entire review carefully, and make all necessary changes in terms of grammar, punctuations, typing errors and the likes.
• One can even seek help from how to write a book review templates available these days. This could help the reviewer or the students to communicate about a book much easier. But remember, you must also choose to be sincere while looking for a how-to template, and refer to the ones that are genuine and contain helpful insights to serve your purpose better.

So, keep each of the discussed ideas and book review writing steps in mind, implement the same and accumulate every required data, insights and technical knowledge, requisite for a satisfactory book review.