Ordinary citizens as book reviewers

Interesting article from the UK”s Telegraph:  The state of Amazon book reviews.   Some people, in my opinion, and the author’s opinion, have to voice their opinion.  Again, sharing one’s experience–bad or good–is an urge that many people need to fullfill. 

 

 

Nothing stands still on the web. There is emerging, on Amazon, a corps of regular ‘reviewers’, so called, trusted to kick up dust and move books. Dinahbitching is becoming institutionalised.

Why do the web-reviewers allow themselves to be recruited as unpaid hacks? Partly for freebies. But more because they enjoy shooting off their mouths. And they enjoy the power.

No, the book reviews on Amazon may not be the best literary reviews one can find, but they do allow what many people haven’t had in the literary world– a voice and a community venue to voice their opinions.