When the Author Comments On Your Less Than Glowing Review

I don’t review very many books at all.  I read a lot of books and I will almost always rate them on goodreads, but I rarely take the time to write any sort of review.  Part of it is laziness on my part.  I read the book, I rate the book (and make sure it’s added to my books read this year on goodreads because, yes, it matters more than it should to me to reach my goal), and then usually move on to the next book.  I also don’t think reviewing books is necessarily my gift; other people write much more interesting reviews than I typically do, so I usually leave it to them.  Persistence is my gift, so if I read a book that I just know a friend or family member will love I usually just hound them until they read it in an effort to make me go away quietly.  In my defense, they usually like the book.

All of that being said, once in a while I do review a book on goodreads.  There’s not much of a system to my deciding which ones to actually write a review of, but it’s usually for a book that wasn’t what I expected (good or bad) or a case where I thought my rating needed an explanation of sorts. 

Last year hubby and I were in a cookbook book club, and I reviewed a few of the cookbooks we used.  I gave one of them a less than stellar review. 

Now, I’d like to take a moment to throw something out there about books read in any sort of book club.  I’ve noticed that the reactions to the books tend to be strong.  It makes sense to me.  You have a group of people choosing books for the whole group to read; not everyone is going to love every book they read, especially if it’s a book they might not have chosen on their own.  The other side of that is that sometimes you come across an unexpected treasure – a book you never would have picked up on your own, but one that you absolutely love.  So it makes sense to me that the ratings for book club books might not be very middle of the road since it can easily be a book your felt forced to read, or a book you never would have found, but totally rocked your world.  Has anyone else noticed this?

Back to my less than stellar review.  I gave the book two stars, which on goodreads means “it was okay”.  Here’s my review:

I bought this cookbook because it was the one being used for a cookbook book club, otherwise, I probably wouldn't have bought it. I thought it was somewhat over-priced in the grand scheme of available cookbooks. All of the recipes that I made, or tried, were very, very good. However, I have two major issues with this cookbook.

The first problem is with the book itself; it was not designed as a cookbook, it was designed more along the lines of a coffee table book. It's very pretty to look at, but an absolute pain to use. The book doesn't lay flat and the shape is very awkward. It's extremely difficult to follow a recipe when the cookbook won't stay open. I finally ended up copying the last recipe I made, just to have an easier time using it. It seems silly to have to make a copy for yourself from a cookbook you own. There are also some typos in the book. I know that's not a huge deal, but it's not something I was expecting to find in an over-priced cookbook.

The second problem is with the actual recipes; while they are delicious, they're not always very practical for cooking at home. Some of the quantities are basically insane to make at home. It seems like they just put the cafe recipes in the book and didn't reduce or adapt them for cooking at home, even though it's sold as a home cookbook. Sure, sometimes you do need a dish or dessert to feed 10 - 20 people, but not that often. Quite a few of the recipes in this cookbook leave you with much more food than you can possibly consume at home. They don't really seem to lend themselves to being halved either. I also thought that the cookbook doesn't always take into consideration what is available in the average home kitchen; quite a few of the recipes call for unusual sized pans, a standing mixer, food processor, etc. It just seems like some of the kitchen tools it assumed you will have aren't necessarily standard.

Overall, I can't say that this will ever become one of my "go-to" cookbooks. It's just not a good format for someone who actually intends to use it, not just decorate with it, and for the money, there are definitely better cookbooks available.

And now, here’s the author’s recently posted comment:

Thanks for your comments Danielle! The book is a very creative book, where many of the recipes were pulled from my restaurant days. ALthough, I am not the only book that has large quantity recipes. Ina Garten and The Barefoot Contessa Cookbook are very similar her recipes.
I agree totally on the cover of the book, but people also love the look of the book. I am working on changing the cover.
Thank you so much for your comments, they all help!!!

I’ll be honest, I thought it was a little weird.  I don’t think my review was scathing.  It was my honest opinion, and I tried to explain why I didn’t like the cookbook instead of just saying I think there are better cookbooks out there.  I didn’t post anything at all on the author’s website.  I just reviewed the book on goodreads. 

I don’t think the author’s comment is really that bad, but I don’t think it’s entirely appropriate either.  Maybe it’s just me, but it has the feel of having been fired off in a hurry, which is usually a bad idea.  It also seems like it’s aimed at changing my mind when she points to another cookbook that has something I said I didn’t like about hers.  Furthermore, my review was for a finished cookbook, not an advance copy or any sort of pre-release, so I don’t think the part about changing the cover was especially relevant.  That’s how it was published, so I think she needs to deal with the fact that at least one reviewer didn’t like it.

I won’t say that the author’s comment has put me off buying her next cookbook because I probably wouldn’t have anyway based on the first one, but it definitely didn’t make me likely to re-think that decision.  I stand by my review.

I’m just not sure how appropriate it is for authors to comment on reviews like that.  I’ve heard of authors not reading reviews of their work for fear of responding inappropriately.  I can’t help wondering if that’s a better choice than responding even a little defensively to a less than glowing review. 

So what are your thoughts on the author commenting on a less than glowing review?  Have you had an author comment on any of your reviews?