When a new movie or book comes out, the public is eagerly awaiting the critics' feedback on the work. This kind of article is called a review. For some reason, many people think that to compose such a thing, a lot of mind is not needed. This is by no means the case. Each work has certain criteria, varieties, and a plan for writing a review.
What is a review?
The word "review" was introduced into the literary language at the end of the 18th century and meant "inspection". Today review is a genre of literary criticism, publication and bibliography. In fact, this is a critical essay, where you can find a brief analysis and evaluation of a particular work. An invariable sign of a review is the presence in the publication of information about the role of work in the modern world.
A person who writes reviews is called a reviewer, and his main task is to give a reliable and impartial description of a particular work, which, in fact, is difficult to achieve if there is no review plan.
Typology of reviews
The review is written for different types of creativity, which is whyexperts offer three options for their classification. First, critical articles differ in their object, that is, the original work. These can be musical, literary, theatrical or product reviews. Don't forget the movies too.
Secondly, they differ by subject, that is, by who the author of the review article is. These could be:
- Expert assessments. Reviews written by masters of their craft.
- Consumer review. Work written by the consumer of the product.
- Review to order. Reviews of this kind are distinguished by the fact that they are "buyed" by the authors of the works themselves. Often such reviews are subjective, although there are rare exceptions.
Thirdly, reviews differ in the volume and number of analyzed works. And all of them are compiled according to what review plan the author has chosen for his work.
From theory to practice
Having become a bit more skilled in theory, we can move on to the question from the practical side. In the review, the main thing is to evaluate all the good and bad that is in the work, and this requires a high professional level. To make it a little clearer, it's worth looking at the standard book review plan:
- Bibliographic characteristics. Here you need to indicate the title of the book, its author and release date, as well as two or three sentences to convey the content.
- Directly feedback. That is, you need to describe your own impressions of what you read.
- Criticism. Complex text analysis. Gotta givename description. Analyze the content, compliance with the genre. Write how the author portrays the characters, and do not forget to mention the stylistic features of the performer.
- Actually, an estimate. It is necessary to reasonably assess the relevance of the work and draw conclusions.
Tip
When you have a review plan in front of your eyes, work is much easier, but do not neglect a few useful tips.
In the review, you need to pay attention to whether the dialogues of the characters correspond to the declared genre. You can also write how the plot was entertaining. Do not lose sight of the tonality, that is, the "uniformity" of the text. It is certainly worth noting the grammar and artistic delights of the author, this will be a good incentive for his further work. It is quite acceptable to describe your own emotions that were inspired by the work. This technique will make the work “stronger” than a ready-made review plan. The work should be filled with a detailed presentation of your thoughts, but short exclamations of admiration should be forgotten - they are not suitable for a book review.
Case Study
Using the review plan and tips, you can try to write a review of a literary work. Take, for example, Akutagawa Ryunosuke's "In the thicket".
"The work of Akutagawa Ryunosuke "In the thicket" saw the world in 1922 in Japan. In it, the author tells about the crime committed and four versions of how it happened.
At first glance it seems that there is nothing interesting in the story. You turn the first page, read the testimony of the first witness, then the second, then the third. Nothing special. Not boring, of course, but not a masterpiece. But when the turn comes for the testimony of the true criminal, a strange explosion occurs inside the consciousness. All four versions suddenly gather at one point, and an understanding of why the heroes did this way comes.
Only after reading the work of Akutagawa it is clear that it is by no means a detective character. After all, the author does not need to look for a criminal, he shows the subjectivity of human behavior. Nevertheless, the text is not devoid of food for thought. Whose testimony can be considered reliable? Human qualities and position in society play an important role in giving evidence. The text is written in a simple and understandable artistic style. Doesn't lose its uniformity with "every testimonial."
This work was written on the basis of the legends of the XIII century. In 1992, the novella received recognition, and the story was the basis for the film Rashomon. It is difficult to argue with the relevance of the work. At any time, the work "In the thicket" will tell its readers that each person has their own view of the problem.
About the film
But books alone do not end the world of modern entertainment. Every day, one film of different lengths is released all over the world, for which you need to write a review.
The film review plan is slightly different from the "book version":
- Catching title. Since the film industry is more in demand than literature, a review will not be noticed without an extraordinary title.
- Facts. To begin with, it is worth mentioning the basic facts about the film. If for a book it was necessary to indicate the author and release date, then for the film it is necessary to write about the director, genre, actors (only the names of the main characters) and, of course, the title and release date.
- Story summary.
- Additional plot. Actually, here it is worth writing about the moments in the film that “hooked”. Express your own emotions and feelings.
- Technical issue. The review must indicate how the film was shot, what were the scenery, special effects, costumes and how much this pleasure cost.
- Conclusions. Who is this film for and what does it encourage.
- Summon. Conclusions can be supplemented with a call to action. That is, we can say that the film will be interesting and useful for everyone (or a certain contingent).
Literature is equally criticized
As you can see, the film review differs from the book review, but only in the sense that they are different works of art. One involved the word, and the other - the video. If we talk about literary works, then the review plan for a story and a book will be almost indistinguishable.
It will also need to indicate the title of the story, the author and the release date. Write a few sentences about what the story is about. A little information about my impressions from what I read. Analyze the text and draw conclusions.
The only thing you can find a distinctive feature is that in the review of the story it will be relevant to discuss the correspondence of the title to the work. And to support the conclusions with quotations from the text. This technique is used because in such works it is much less than in full-fledged novels. This means that excerpts from the text are much easier to find.
In addition, it has long been believed that the titles of novels fit the books a priori, it is not even worth confirming this, but disputes always arise with stories.
Afterword
What is a review? How to write a book outline and a good review? At school, college or professional activity, sooner or later you may be faced with a similar task. And it's better to be prepared in advance than hastily looking for fragments of information scattered across the Web.
Every reviewer needs to remember: do not skimp on emotions, praise or criticism. The author must see an objective assessment of his work in order to know what to work on. And the consumer must understand what emotions await him and what will be interesting for this or that work.
A review is not just a criticism of a book, it is a professional review of a work, on which it directly depends whether the work will be interesting to the consumer or “drown” without waiting for fame.
