When teachers ask you to write a good book review example, you should understand that it's a summary of a particular story. Before you start completing this academic assignment, read a book that professors assign you to make it easier to determine what it's all about. Otherwise, your essay won't make any sense. There are some guidelines that can help you make the entire process simple and fast to complete and become a better writer even for bibliography.
The Necessary Preparations Before Writing
Many students don't know how to create a great book review example and earn high grades after its submission. Are you one of them? Use these tips to prepare for writing a good analysis:
- Research the author,
- Read a book very attentively,
- Take important notes,
- Determine major themes,
- Notice weak points,
- Highlight unique ideas,
- State your opinion.
Get some basic knowledge about the author to open up your mind to what to expect from a particular book. Read it a few times and take notes. They should be relevant and essential to document every important part of the story, including its plot, themes, characters, and others. Avoid referring to a book a lot.
Relate major themes to the modern world, see how they connect with each other, and define why the author decided to focus on them. Pay attention to all weak points. You need to highlight them in your book review. Focus on the uniqueness of a given story and determine what differentiates it from other literary pieces in the same genre. It can be a failure or a success. State your opinion about it.
A Structure of Your Book Review
There are different formats that you can use to structure this type of paper. It is not as simple as a persuasive essay is. Take into account the following, no matter what style you choose:
- Make a draft,
- The heading,
- An introductory part,
- A summary.
Why Make a Draft?
The first stage of writing a perfect book review is making its draft or a rough outline that involves gathering and organizing your notes. Place them in chronological order. Decide what to include in your paper. Start drafting with no corrections to end up with a skeleton of your future book review and get a clear insight into how its final copy should be. Determine the best structure to use.
What is a Heading?
To create a good heading on a separate page, write the title of your chosen book and its author in bold and capital letters.
Introduction
In the introductory paragraph, state that your essay is about a specific book that you’ve read and start with a few sentences that describe its major themes and plot points. Don’t reveal important character plays and plot twists. Mention the author and other works. Make sure that the introduction doesn’t contain any spoilers because its basic purpose is just to lay a strong foundation for other paragraphs. Do not forget about transitionsal words.
What About a Summary?
It includes important details about a book. While writing a summary, observe an outline of your paper and show how the author told the story and how you feel about reading it.
Great Suggestions for Successful WritingIt’s necessary to cover these basic elements in your book review:
- Character development,
- Plot,
- Themes.
Character Development
Who are your favorite characters? Explain to your target readers why they stand out and mention whether they feel real to you and how well they grow in the story. Show their development pattern from the start.
Plot
A good book has a lot of suspense until its end and its author should keep readers guessing what will happen next. Choose your favorite part, quote the most interesting phrases, and determine if the author brought out different emotions, such as sadness or happiness. Mention if the story was interesting or not. Do not forget to check and edit your book or paper, grammar and punctuation are very important.
Themes
The main theme is what a specific book is all about, and some of the most popular ones include:
- Business,
- Love,
- Death,
- Revenge,
- Leadership,
- Relationships.
Read a prologue to get a clear idea of what to expect when reading it and identify whether the author stuck to a major theme. This is what sells a story.
A Great Example of a Book Review
Behind Closed Doors is a book that tries to answer many important questions and describes what it’s like to be a member of the group of people who believe that they maintain the only pure religious path. Ngaire Thomas is its author. Her style is non-judgmental. In the story, she describes her personal experiences and acknowledgment of the right of Exclusive Brethren to follow a unique religious path.
The plot starts with her childhood. Ngaire is different from other kids because of her strict upbringing and long dresses, but she likes her school as it’s the only place where she can stop pretending. There are no radios. Life focuses on the Bible.
When she meets her future husband and they marry, church members can’t drink and eat with outsiders or participate in other associations. Even pets are called idols. The plot also describes confession madness. Priests are religious police and they examine the lives of other people like investigators, while church members must confess to both real and imagines sins.
It’s hard not to like the author’s forgiving style. She answers many questions that matter. Her story provides readers with an absorbing and valuable insight into a religious path that most of them would count inaccessible.
Final Words
Use these simple tips and a helpful sample to write a perfect book review and impress your professors. Order it from online professionals if you need help.