Today's choice of topic: Ratings.
Some of you may have noticed when you read one of my reviews, you don't see a rating at the end/beginning of the post(I used to though! But I started getting frustrated with rating). Why is this? The simply answer is because it's really difficult for me to choose between especially 3 and 4 stars. But the long version is...
Ratings are so overdone. There, I said it. And if you think about it, they are even a bit stereotypical.
Definition of Stereotypical:
A conventional, formulaic, and oversimplified conception, opinion, image.
This is exactly what ratings do, they oversimplify what we think of a book. Sometimes, this can be a good thing. Most people even love simple ratings, but not me. For me, it doesn't tell me anything, though, besides to maybe tell if a person disliked/ loved a book.
I mean, for example, what if I give a book I enjoyed a lot a 3 stars, but didn't connect with the main character and another book I give the same reason, but didn't really like it, but the story was well-written. There are so many factors to giving ratings, it boggles my mind. I usually can get a good idea of what I could give the book, but I almost always want to give or take 4 stars down to, say, 3.67.
Goodreads, as many of you probably know, uses a basic 5 star scale rating. I understand that having decimal places for ratings might get complicated, but I'm just saying it bothers me how ratings basically oversimplifies what we think.
I like ratings but I use them mainly for myself. I usually don't look at other people's ratings. I just read the review. Everyone seems to have such a different system that you'd have to go look up every blog's explanation. I like looking at the different symbols people use though: hearts and flowers and owls and whatever else.
ReplyDeleteI think more people are feeling like you, because I've seen people starting to rate in four or five different categories instead of giving one overall rating. It's not exactly what you're doing but it's an attempt at clarification.
I totally feel the same way. I rate my books on Goodreads (just so I know what I thought of them), but I agree with you about 3 and 4 star ratings. I have decimals in my head when I rate 3 and 4 stars. Heh. I don't rate books on my blog, just give my opinion. I break my reviews into sections, so people can read one or all.
ReplyDeleteGreat post! I love hearing different ideas and opinions and such. :)
I'm in the same boat. I use the ratings on Goodreads only for myself, to keep track of what I thought of the books, but not on my blog for the same reason as you. I have a very hard time deciding between 3 and for stars, and sometimes even 2 and three stars. And with the way my mood changes and my interests, I can never know for sure how I am going to feel about a book even if it is similar to another.
ReplyDeleteYes it's frustrating. I think I'll structure my reviews differently
ReplyDelete