How to Craft Professional Book Reviews under Time Pressure

Different readers will always be keen on your thoughts about the books you’ve read if you follow the following advice in this article. When writing professional book reviews, you ought to have two objectives. First, to educate the reader about the content of the book, second, to present an assessment concerning the book’s quality.

Before You Begin Writing

Start reading the book, from the title, considering the relevant information that can be revealed from the title, preface, and table of contents.

As you read the whole book, make notes from the passages to cite in your review, as well as to clarify the following information:

• What is the book about? Does it fit its genre?
• What is the writer’s perspective? Do you agree with it?
• Who is your favorite character, and why?
• Did the story keep you guessing?
• What is your favorite part of the book, and why?
• Is there any part of the book you truly dislike? Which and why?
• As an audience, can you flow with the author’s style, whether formal or informal?
• Does the author’s conclusion convince you?
• What did the book achieve? Is more work required?
• Compare the book with others written by this author, or books in this genre by other writers – Your opinion?
• If you could change something, what might it be? (If you wish you could change the ending, don’t reveal it!)

Writing Your Review

Set the tone of the review. Hook the reader with your opening sentence, so they are keen on reading the rest of the review. Begin with a few sentences describing what the book is really about. Ensure your opening statements directly relate to your critical response to the book and keep them concise.

Relevant information about the author including reputation, qualifications, and their previous work should be included in the introduction. The fundamental themes you want to discuss may also be mentioned, as this gives the readers an idea of the context of book analysis.

Write a summary of the book. You can begin the overview of the themes and main points in the book after setting up your introduction.

The summary needs to be kept short, to the point, and informative. Make use of quotes or paraphrases from the book to back up your summary without uncovering plot twists or giving any spoilers.

The crux of the book is the critical analysis, and this is usually done after your summary of the book’s themes end. You have to be clear and direct when writing this.

Talk about what you specifically liked about the book, and point out anything you disliked about it.

Try not to spend more than one-third of the paper summarizing the book.

Avoid plagiarism and ensure your essay is based primarily on evidence drawn from a careful reading of the book.

The objective is to give a coherent piece with a reasonable argument. Thus, review the book you read, not the book you wish the author wrote.

Wrap up the review.  After you have argued your position on the book clearly, sum up your analysis of in few sentences, and this should naturally flow into your conclusion.

Talk about questions, which were not covered, pay attention to unsettled points concerning the topic of the analyzed book, and problems that still need to be solved or require deeper analysis. Do not introduce new material at this point.

You could suggest the kind of reader you’d recommend the book to. For instance, youths, older people, fans of relationship drama/comedy/ mystery stories.

Then give the readers your farewell statement, something to think about! Sometimes the best closing is a dilemma that will stick in readers’ minds. A starred or numerical rating is not a bad idea too.

Consider these tips when writing your original book review and enjoy the result.