Friday, February 6, 2015

Reviewing the review

I have always had great difficulty writing reviews of other people's work. Who am I to critque someone's work who's job it is to create things. I always feel that I am too mean and I don't want to come across as hostile. Nevertheless I chose to do a review for my you pick two essay just because it wasn't the easy way out. I find that when I read reviews by professional reviewers, it isn't so much about the subject they are reviewing but they bring in social issues and other pop culture references to make what they are talking about relevant. 
I spent hours looking on Goodreads for a certain review that has always reminded me that anything can be made light hearted and still professional. It is a review of Green Eggs and Ham written by fantasy author Patrick Rothfuss. I wish I could have found it so everyone could read the masterpiece that is his review. It is much longer than the book itself and very eloquently details components of style, repetition, alliteration and imagery as well as critques the images associated with the story. I was unable to find it and Rothfuss had not yet responded to my inquiry by the time I wrote this blog post. He is an author who maintains a close relationship with his fans and often has conversations with his fans on his own blog. I think that an exercise such as this would be a very helpful tool to students. If we all had to seriously review a children's book for content and style it would force us to analyze deeper. 
But reaching the point. What type of essays do you have the most difficulties writing and why?

3 comments:

  1. I always feel so bad when I review others papers/work because I'm extremely critical. This is only because I would want someone to do the same for me so I could make my paper the very best it could be. I find quite a bit of difficulty when writing narratives, due to not always being able to convey my thoughts properly.

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  2. I would have to agree that reviews are hard to write, and that would probably be one type of essay that I struggle with because it is so much more than just a summary. I never know how much to summarize and how much of my own input to put in there and I feel like I'm too nice sometimes because do not want to offend anyone either. I find it hard to meet the standards the book outlines for us for the review, and I think I make it way more complicated than it actually is.

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  3. I can appreciate your view, but, the IDEA is always going to dominate when it becomes personal or political. Opinion, Cause, Effect, Consequences, and Beliefs regulate how the IDEA festers. It does seem confusing at times and there is always a common ground.

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