On Book Reviewing – Plausibility is the Thing
One of the key items that a book reviewer of a novel needs to consider is plausibility. Does the basis of the tale told in the book ring true? Are the characters like people one would encounter in real life, or are they either too perfect, too flawed or strange? Sad to say but if the story’s premise and/or its characters are not plausible then reading the novel becomes an exercise in futility. Oh, the story may have some positive features but lacking plausibility, it’s like saying that someone’s done a good job of putting lipstick on a pig. Great makeup job but it’s still a pig.
What does the reviewer do when in this situation? Focus on the writing itself while reminding the potential reader that this may be a talented writer but he/she has not met his/her potential this time around. In other words, offer hope for the future.
Now here’s the funny thing… If a reviewer questions the plausibility of a novel the author is never going to concur with this finding. Never, ever, ever. His or her response will be something like, “I based this on something that actually happened and I know (or knew) people like the characters in this book!” Fine but that’s the author’s perspective not the reviewer’s view. What it translates into is a case where a plausible story – supposedly based on real-life – was botched in the writing.
A U.S. Supreme Court justice once said about pornography, “I cannot define it but I know it when I see it.” The same is and should be true for a reviewer – either he or she “sees” the plausibility in a fictional setting or he/she doesn’t. Either way, it is critical for the reviewer’s credibility to call it as he sees it. Play it as it lays.
There’s another famous quote, one attributed to an actor, “Once you’ve learned to fake sincerity, you can fake anything.” But a writer of a fictional work can’t fake plausibility – its either on the written page (“on all fours,” as law professors say) or it’s absent. And if a reviewer makes the call that it’s absent the writer should remember that it’s nothing personal – your next book may become one of the reviewer’s favorites.
Joseph Arellano
This article is one in a continuing series. Pictured: The False Friend: A Novel by Mya Goldberg (author of Bee Season) which will be released by Doubleday on October 5, 2010. This is one of those books that we look forward to reading and reviewing.
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