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Is This Video a Review, or a Recommendation?

June 18, 2008 Oh, those book reviewers. They use so many words, and not enough pictures! Have you been looking for an alternative to reading them? Meet amanduh111112:


Grand Central Publishing discovered this video while working on promotions for Child 44, and they are quite rightly excited about the fact that someone in the under-24 demo is reading and vlogging about books. So is Ron Hogan over at Galleycat, who says in a post titled "Will Video Kill the Book Review Stars?" that "...videos like this will (already do) have a natural context within increasingly elaborate social networking environments." Gawker is a little less enthusiastic: "Why not. YouTube will determine the next president and whether we bomb Iran, it might as well shrink James Wood's column inches in the New Yorker."

Here's what I think: anyone who believes this is an actual book review has been spending a little too much time on Facebook. This is, however, a terrific book recommendation. Really good, enthusiastic book recommendations can be just as and often more effective at selling books than a dozen great reviews (think of what enthusiasm did for Rebecca Wells). No wonder Grand Central is excited, and I would be, too. 

Will video clips like this replace book reviews? They might. However, they will never be book reviews. A good book review is informed by more than enthusiasm and tempered by more than the confines of the very small screen. 

Galleycat's Hogan believes "that passionate, heartfelt recommendations from people with whom you have ongoing relationships/conversations online will carry greater weight than detached critical evaluations from people who believe '[books] need to be sifted for the public, to see what matters.'" I agree, up to a point -- but "heartfelt" doesn't mean "worthwhile," and that's why critics do still matter. There are more titles being published than ever before, and I wouldn't want to lose the worthwhile and often heartfelt reviews coming from people who read and evaluate books for a living. 

I'm sure there are more than a few people in the NBCC who believe that books need to be sifted for the public, but I'm also sure there are more than a few people outside of the NBCC who believe the same. There are just as many critics and reviewers who view our role as guide; we hope that by providing a balanced view of a book that we'll help people decide not just which books to read, but why reading certain books can matter.

That said, Hogan also notes that it remains to be seen whether or not the "litcrit" establishment will figure out how to harness new technology and new social/reading mores to its benefit. If we keep doing things exactly as we always have, everyone's going to be watching "amanduh" instead.

What do you think?

Posted by Bethanne Patrick on June 18, 2008 | Comments (4)