When the sun dims dramatically and the air turns chilly, it’s time to snuggle up and enjoy a good book. But what’s the best way to describe a book you’ve just read?
Some readers might say it’s best to give nothing away about a book while others feel it’s best to be as helpful as possible. Which approach should you take?
Here’s a rough guide to creating detailed yet spoiler-free reviews of novels you’ve read so that you can decide which method of review to use when recommending a book to others.
The Top-Down Approach
Deciding what to say about a book without giving away any spoilers is much easier said than done. A top-down review starts with a general overview of the plot and themes and then focuses in on the major characters and their development over the course of the story. You wouldn’t spoil the ending of a novel you’ve read by describing the events of the earlier chapters, so why should we spoil the ending of a story when we’re talking about describing it?
This type of review takes a lot of work but allows for some exceptional detail, avoiding the spoiler tag while maintaining an overview of the entire story. Here’s an example of a top-down review for The Martian by Andy Weir:
The theme of solitude is one that permeates the novel. The epigraph—“solitude is the luxury of self-reliance”—introduces us to this concept. It is one that is both exciting and terrifying at the same time. Solitude offers the individual the chance to forge their own path, free from the interference of others. Yet, at the same time, it is a desolate existence, free from the company of others.
Notice how Weir sticks to general themes and concepts without getting too bogged down in the details of the story. This type of review takes a lot of work but allows for some exceptional detail, avoiding the spoiler tag while maintaining an overview of the entire story.
The Bottom-Up Approach
Another approach is to review a book from the bottom up. In this type of review, you would begin by focusing on the smallest details, giving away as little as possible, before progressing to an overall assessment. This method provides you with more flexibility when it comes to discussing the book since you aren’t bound by the same guidelines as in a top-down review. Here’s an example of a bottom-up review for The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson:
Despite the fact that this is the first in a planned trilogy, it is probably best to begin by discussing the book as a whole. This is because there are so many plot twists and turns that it would be almost impossible to describe just what happens in the first novel. The fact that the author intended this to be a trilogy should not be a spoiler to anyone, as he mentions it from the beginning. The writing is superb and the characterization is very well done; however, it is not perfect and requires a little bit of patience to understand fully what is going on. It is still one of the best crime fiction novels written in the last 20 years and definitely worth reading.
In this type of review, you would begin by focusing on the smallest details, giving away as little as possible, before progressing to an overall assessment. This method provides you with more flexibility when it comes to discussing the book since you aren’t bound by the same guidelines as in a top-down review. Here’s an example of a bottom-up review for The Martian by Andy Weir:
Anyone who has ever seen the movie version of The Martian will know how important it is to keep the suspense throughout the story. It is an important aspect of the novel as well and, for the most part, this is achieved successfully. There are a few times when the suspense is a little bit forced, but for the most part, it is very well done.
The upside of the bottom-up review is that it gives you more flexibility when it comes to discussing the book. The downside is that it can be a little bit hit-or-miss when it comes to the details, since you aren’t following a set formula. This type of review allows you to fully understand the story but might leave you wanting more information about certain aspects of it. For example, if you want to know more about the main protagonist’s family life or how his or her personality developed, you would have to go through the entire story, looking for clues.
The Hybrid Approach
We’ve all been there. We’ve all read a book and, at the end, we had a clear grasp of the general plot but wished there was a little more detail. Maybe the story was a little too convoluted and we wanted more clarity. Or maybe we just wanted to know more about the characters and what was going on in their heads. In these situations, it’s best to take a hybrid approach. Begin by doing a top-down review and then, when you’ve got the general idea of the story, move down to the details. This is especially effective if you’ve read a book multiple times or if you’ve read it a long time ago and want to refresh your memory on certain aspects of it.
Here’s an example of a hybrid review for The Martian by Andy Weir:
On the one hand, it is quite a simple story. On the other hand, since this is Weir’s debut novel, it might be worth taking a little bit of time to review it from the beginning, simply to get a grasp of what is happening. Once you do that, the rest of the story will make more sense. When he mentions that someone has died, you will know exactly who he is talking about. When he describes how the characters interact with one another, you will understand exactly what is going on in these scenes. And when he talks about his experience living on Mars, you will know exactly what he is referring to, as he has written a real account of this in the past. But for those readers who have never heard of or seen the Martian movie, it might be worth rereading the first couple of chapters, just to get an idea of what is happening (note: this doesn’t mean that you have to watch the movie to understand the story—you can read the book in its entirety and never see the movie).
This type of review allows you to review a book from multiple perspectives, combining both the top-down and bottom-up techniques, as applicable. For example, if you want to know more about the main protagonist’s family life or how his or her personality developed, you would have to go through the entire story, looking for clues, but since this is Weir’s debut novel, it might be worth rereading the first couple of chapters, simply to get an idea of what is happening (note: this doesn’t mean that you have to watch the movie to understand the story—you can read the book in its entirety and never see the movie). Weighing the pros and cons of each approach, you might decide that the advantages of a top-down review outweigh the disadvantages and decide to use this method whenever possible.