Star Ratings and the State of Book Reviewing

A Column by Kurt Milberger

Customer Satisfaction, Adobe Stock

For a long time, I delighted in looking up my favorite books on Amazon and reading the one-star reviews. Classics, bestsellers, esoteric indies, no matter the genre, success, or merit of any given book, haters condemned the text, abused the author, and warned readers not to waste their precious time or money in one-star reviews.

In the mood for “mildly clever contorted witticisms written in stilted language?” Check out Pride & Prejudice by Jane Austen. The Great Gatsby? “One of the worst books ever written. People living on eggs worried about money and unrequited love. Blargh.” Beloved? “Bad plot, bad writing, premises that ring with falseness, rather ridiculous.” Moby Dick? “Moby Don’t.” Of course, these are not serious people, but there’s something refreshing about the unbridled opining of the masses. “This novel actually won a Pulitzer Prize. For the life of me I don’t know why.”

None of us wants to be judged by the worst of what others think of us. It’s especially understandable that authors have a lot to say about bad reviews. It takes time and soul to write a book, hard work and real courage to put it out into the world. It must be crushing for the culmination of that work to be stamped with one star and a dismissive review: “Pretty much every page is bad.” But discussion of reviews has taken a curious turn in the last couple years as a segment of literary culture, including some prominent authors, has begun to argue that every star rating ought to be a five-star rating.