Tuesday, November 13, 2012

Do I Have Anything to Discuss? Book Reviews with Spoilers

So, it's time to 'fess up. When a review says "Spoilers ahead, don't read if you don't want to know." Do you read the spoilers?

It's really HARD for me to NOT read the spoilers. I'm bad! Even if I intend to read the book, I just can't NOT read the spoiler. And, it usually doesn't make me not want to read it. Many times, the spoilers don't really make sense, because you don't know what's going on, and by the time I read the book, I don't remember the spoiler anyway! Maybe it's good that I'm old and my brain is like a sieve!!

Oh, and that "changing the color of the font to match the background" thing usually doesn't work either. I just have to squint and get a little headache to read it (wouldn't want to hi-light it, and admit I'm reading a spoiler!)

I find, however, if a book review has at the beginning that it contains spoilers, I am able to just skip that review. But really, why do reviewers do that? Don't you want people to read your reviews? I would imagine many people skip reading it because of the spoilers. I've really never found it difficult to review a book, to give my thoughts about it, without including spoilers. In particular, I want people who haven't read the book to read my review and decide if they would like to read it. Isn't that the purpose?

Let's hear it. Do you read the spoilers? How do you feel about spoilers? Has reading a spoiler ever made you decide you didn't need to read the book?

P.S. Only a few more days in my Nutcracker Giveaway. Don't miss out on this beautiful Christmas book!





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13 comments:

  1. I am a spoiler fanatic so I don't ever read them and I hate when people don't give you a warning if they are going to include them. I have written three or four reviews that I've included spoilers for but that's only if something really, really bothered me and I just had to mention it.

    I can't think of any books I haven't read because of spoilers but its happened in several movies or tv shows.

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  2. I think most people do not like to be spoiled and that is how I handle my reviews! I try my best not to give anything important away even if I would just love to talk about some things.

    When it comes to read spoiler reviews it depends on whether I'd like to read the book myself or not so much:)

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  3. If the review starts off saying that it contains spoilers most of the time I will skip reading the review, but if I'm already reading the review and then the make a spoiler statement usually I will read it anyway. I agree that it doesn't make me want to skip reading the book.

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  4. I will usually read the spoilers and like you I also tend to forget them by the time I get around to reading the book. Having said that if I know I'm going to be reading that particular book in the near near future I will skip the review entirely and hope to remember to come back to it later.

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  5. However, I forgot to say that certain authors are sacred to me and I wont read any reviews for their books let alone spoilers because I want to go in to reading their books completely fresh and without knowing anything.
    David Levithan is sacred to me. I haven't read a single review for Every Day because I am waiting to read the novel in February with my book club. And I'm thinking that Nick Hornby would be a close second.

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    Replies
    1. That's interesting. I don't read blurbs on books (because I like to be surprised and don't want any spoilers) but I've never considered not reading a review -- I guess I expect them to be spoiler free- and sometimes the review just gets me more excited for the book. But I've been burned before...

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  6. I only read the spoilers if I know I'm not going to read the book but am curious about what happened in it. Bad, bad girl!

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  7. I really try and not provide spoilers but I'm sure I'm guilty of giving something away without meaning to. If I see a review of a book I haven't read and plan to I skip it. Also if they say right up front I skip that too. Now if there is a book I'm not planning on reading I will read the spoilers just to find out what happened.

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  8. I'm with you Annette, usually by the time I get around to reading the book, I've forgotten what the spoiler is. Every now and again Christinabean and I will give away a spoiler, but we try not to. Usually it's not too hard.

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  9. I don't usually read spoilers in reviews unless I've already read the book. On the other hand, if a book starts to get too suspenseful, I'll usually flip the pages to see what's going to happen. I can't stand it.

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  10. I skip the review if there are spoilers and I haven't read the book. I don't know what the purpose of adding spoilers is other than for a read along. I think that it is hard to have a full discussion without spoilers, but reviews are another story.

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