Writing Book Reviews

What is a synopsis and why use one

No book review is complete without a synopsis. Usually placed at the very beginning, it tells the reader what the reviewed book is about, what the main characters are, and how the plot begins to unfold. The “begins to unfold” part is mandatory, as the purpose of a synopsis is to let people know what to expect when picking up the book, not disclose all the interesting things beforehand.

One might ask: why do I need a synopsis, people reading the review already know what the book is about, right? Actually, no. People might have heard in passing about the book, run a search about it say on Google and thus ended up on your page. You sure don’t want to deprive them of finding out the actual plot

Now that you realized you do need the book summary in your review, a new problem arises: where would you take on from?

Take one from Amazon. Or the back cover blurb. Or some other place.

It cannot be denied that taking an already written summary from Amazon or anywhere else is not without advantages. The most attractive one being probably the fact that it is the easier choice: everything is already written, just a simple copy-paste — not to mention that they are usually extremely well worded. They are always very careful to stop just at the right time, without disclosing spoilers, they are often concise and to the point. The dream summaries, right?

They are not without disadvantages though. The most obvious: everyone has them. They don’t make you stand out from the crowd, they make you one of them. Sure, you might argue that your opinions, presented right after, are your own and thus unique — but are you sure that the reader is gonna hang around ’til then to find out?

Writing your own book summary

No choice is perfect and neither is this one. Its major advantage is that it fully reflects the personality of the blogger and his/her writing style — thus matching the style of the rest of the review and the expectations of the loyal readers. It is true that, as the counterpoint, you are probably not as skilled a writer as those who write back cover blurbs for a living. It might take you some time and effort to write a summary you feel good about. Actually, if you’re a perfectionist, you might never be able to write a summary you feel good about.

But you know what? Relax. Having a synopsis may be quite important in a book review. Nevertheless having a perfect synopsis is not. The important thing is for you to have fun with it — you have to keep it informative, of course, and true to the book, but other than that it can take any shape you see fit: from bulleted list to a dialogue, from a sketch of everything important to a detailed description of the first few events. It’s all up to you: have fun with it, letting your writing style develop in any direction you like. As they say, sky is the limit

Conclusion

In the end, your choice is no one’s but yours. Choose the one that is better suited to yourself, your blog, your capabilities, and your tastes. It is as simple as that.

I have to say that I am curious though:
What do you use on your blog (if you have one)?
Which one do you love seeing most?
Anything else you’d like to add?

Bonus link: How to Write a Book Summary @ WikiHow