“Once upon a time, there was a princess with golden hair and blue eyes, and she often dreamt of freedom to get out of a palace…” Imagine that you have read a fairy tale and now you have to create a review for others to make them want to read it too. To fall in love with every character, to fall asleep, to split the story in quotes, or repeat every page. A book analysis is like a fairy tale for adults because it is not only a logical analysis of someone’s writing. Any critical analysis starts with understanding the quality and sense of the book yourself.
In the beginning, your goal is to establish the book review’s body parts, make sure that you understand the purpose of what you’ve read, and write down the ideas. For critical analysis, one must mention the summary of strengths and weaknesses in the draft. After you have the ideas, plan, pros and cons list, and clear understanding of the topic, the process can be started!
What Parts Does a Successful Book Analysis Consist Of?
- Introduction. This is a description, summary of the book. In this part, the writer has to include the title, author’s name, genre, general statements, personal opinion on the book, why he or she chose it, etc. It is also good to tell about price, date, and the history of the book’s creation.
- The body is the most important part. Here, explain your opinion on a book in a more detailed way. Maybe there was something that made you wonder why James killed Mary or why the magic wand didn’t manage to turn the monster into a fairy? Share your impressions, imperfections you noticed, interesting thoughts, tell what feelings you have while going deep into the events of the book. Analyze the author’s style, logic, point of view.
- The conclusion consists of brief analysis, rating, recommendations as to the audience the book may be interesting for, etc. Don’t put too much information there, save the space for summary and assessments. The main points you refer to in this part should not contain new information.
Tips on How to Make a Book Review Interesting and Qualified: From Plans to Catching the Attention Hooks
Your critical review will be awesome if you use these tips:
- give details to every argument, support them with examples from the book if possible;
- proofread the review;
- don’t forget to show both pros and cons, since it is also critical. Maybe the story was too boring or lacked descriptions? Or it would be better not to start a book with dialogues and instead give a reader three sentences of the story?
- no spoilers or other unnecessary things! They are tempting but try to avoid them. Make a trailer out of the review, not the full reveal of the events or things a book is about;
- highlight a few most “hot” facts about the book to catch the attention of the reader. It can be a story of what has inspired the author to create this book or your outcome: “In the end, you will realize that the sense is even deeper!”
This list does not apply to exhaustion, and it’s up to you what to add! Make your review fascinating and worth reading!
Imagine You Are the Audience: What Review Would Make You Want to Read the Book?
Here are a few tips as to the book review of some genres.
- Poetry: try to analyze not only the technical side of the poem (rhymes, images, speech peculiarities, etc.) but also the main meaning of it. Maybe the book’s goal was to show the importance of some topic through all the poems? Or probably there’s a story in each of them which in the end answers the central question?
- Fiction: common mistake here is the description of the plot only. However, themes, style, and characters are also to be included in critical analysis. As a writer of a book’s review, your purpose is to show how the qualities of writing (emotions, indoor and outdoor descriptions, sarcasm, symbols, and so on) build characters, atmosphere and help to develop the plot.
- Nonfiction: this is a genre the review of which has to include details such as the sources used by the author, style, audience. One has to assess how clear the events are described and how easy it is to get their meaning.
- Biography: it would be useful to review the chronology and the life of a character as a whole. Try to capture the goal of the author using exactly this character and “scan” it.
Don’t be afraid to apply your unique style of writing to the book review. Even if it’s a psychological book, thriller, mystery, or science fiction, it is still possible to make it exciting for the reader.