It’s natural to find a book review among all those college summer assignments, especially considering the variety of readings a student has to cope with. A book review is a rather practical task, which not only develops your worldview but may also come in handy when after some time you want to refresh what a certain book is about. However, there’s a bad thing about book reviews, too: not all of us know how to properly write them. And here we come for help with several steps to follow to get it done.
When you have to write a book review, you need to know first of all, whether there are any questions to the book your teacher would like you to cover in it. And you are lucky if there are some, because they may easily work for you as an outline for an essay. If, on the other hand, you have no specific instructions, you find yourself thrown upon your own resources and you for sure don’t know what to start with. Surprisingly or not, the correct book review starts with a correct reading.
1. Read
Look at the deadline and decide how much time you need to finish reading and begin as soon as possible. Before being swallowed by a hopefully interesting book content, mind these
- think about the name of the book and what it can stand for
- look through the table of contents to see how the book is organized and
- read the introduction (or a preface) which may contain some necessary information.
Now that you’ve grasped a general idea, note down your observations along with the information about the author, genre, and a publisher. With these you may start writing the first rough draft but be sure to make up an outline first.
2. Summarize
Remember that a book review is partially a summary and what you have to summarize depends on whether the assigned book belongs to fiction or non-fiction. A fiction book review will answer some of the questions below:
- What does the book tell about?
- Who are the protagonists and antagonists? Do you associate yourself with them?
- What is the setting? Is it important in the story?
- What are the exposition, rising action, climax, and resolution?
- Do you consider it intriguing/exciting/boring, etc.? Whom would you recommend reading it?
Non-fiction book review presupposes your glance on its main idea and other important details; the rest will do the discussion.
3. Discuss
Already having plenty of things to tell? Don’t hurry here. Summary and discussion should better be organized either by chapter or by the themes you prefer to disclose but better stick to the chronological order so that your flow of thoughts would be easy to follow.
Usually, non-fiction presents more vivid central idea and your tasks are to explain it within the discussion, present the most vital concepts and tell how it all works. Ignore small details and look at the whole picture; you may even want to allow some time before writing – time necessary to analyze what you have read and get fresh thoughts. Build your arguments logically and don’t make the reader reread them by making too complicated. Better reread them by yourself while proofreading. Any recipient, whether it is an instructor, a librarian, or your younger brother, seek your ability to explain the stuff clearly.
As for fiction, you often need to figure out the central idea on your own, dwelling on one or several possible interpretations. Read criticism on your book if there is such on the internet. Pay attention to symbols, expressive means, and stylistic devices. Don’t be afraid to express your own opinion on the book.
In both cases, investigate the following
- the main idea
- the themes touched in the book
- the author’s style
- quotes which may be relevant in your book review
4. Organize
Organization is the first visible thing your book review is evaluated for. To be high-graded, it must be of proper formatting and style, easily readable and consistent. Don’t forget that same as any essay, a book review should start with an introduction and end with a conclusion. Each new idea should start a new paragraph and be supported with further discussion and, optionally, the quotes (but not too many).
At times it happens that books appear to be too dull to read or too voluminous to manage with them timely. Even this article with easy hints can’t help a student with the lack of time and motivation. This is why what we offer is Assignment Expert help in writing a book review for any student throughout the world. All you have to do is tell us which fiction or non-fiction book you need to write an essay on and submit the instructions if you have any and indicate the deadline. The team of our literature experts are ready to evaluate your order 24/7 to provide you with the best results on time. At your first request, your review may also be followed up by the detailed explanations and recommendations.
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