This Week’s Topic: Why I Don't Rate DNFs
I have been really vocal about DNFing books I am not enjoying. However, can you recall me ever mentioning a book I DNFed? Probably not, because when I set a book aside, I just like to pretend like it never happened. I don't talk about it, nor do I rate it.
I know there are many people who write reviews and/or rate books they didn't finish, and I am not judging you. However, I don't.
One reason is quite simple: I don't think it's fair. I have a rule to give a book 20-30% before I abandon it, but is that really enough to full evaluate the book? Maybe the book got better, or maybe whatever bugged me enough to stop reading the book was explained of resolved. I would never know because I did not finish the book.
Perhaps you've noticed that I tend to highlight only the things I liked about a book I read. Personally, I feel that there is too much negativity in the world. I just cannot bring myself to put more out there. If I DNFed a book and reviewed it, I feel like I would have to present those reasons why I didn't finish the book, and they would be negative.
So, although I, in the immortal words of Becky, "embrace the DNF", I don't like to talk about it.
Now it's your turn!
How do you feel about rating DNFs?
Let us know in the comments!
I struggle with what to do about DNFs. If at all possible, I try to get to the halfway point before giving up so I do feel like I've read a pretty good chunk of the book by that point. Once I decide to DNF, I don't write a review for my blog but I will give the book a star rating on Goodreads and a very brief sum up of why the book wasn't working for me. Then I quickly move on with my life and hopefully on to a better book, lol.
ReplyDeleteYou're a trooper. I do 20-30%, if I am not interested by then, I abandon it.
DeleteI don't rate them either. If I have enough I might just list my DNFs for the year on the blog and say why I DNFed but that's it. I don't feel like I can evaluate it enough either.
ReplyDeleteI see the value in sharing a DNF as a reviewer, especially if you are able to articulate what made you stop reading it.
DeleteI sometimes share books I DNF - but usually only if they were given to me for review - but I like to focus on what did and did not work for me in most of my reviews because a DNF for me could sound really good to someone else. I don't rate them though. Even if I read most of the book, I don't think it's fair because it's not the entire book...sometimes a book can take a drastic change in the end, you know?
ReplyDelete-Lauren
www.shootingstarsmag.net
If you are able to pinpoint what didn't work, then I think it's great you share that, but I have seen so many vague DNFs, where people just throw out one of those buzz words, but provide no explanation.
DeleteI don't rate books that I DNF, but if I did finish a book and didn't like it I will share what I had trouble with in the book trying to highlight the good and bad for me. I don't even list my DNF they are sitting in a pile somewhere in my house. Great topic!
ReplyDeleteI totally agree. I you finish the whole book, you should by all means evaluate it. My problem with rating/reviewing a DNF is I panic and think maybe it got better, especially for DNFs that have decent ratings.
DeleteI don't rate books I DNF. Sometimes I don't get more than 5 pages into a book, and that would be really unfair to the author to rate a book just on that. I'm like you, sometimes I like to pretend that DNFs just didn't happen at all; most of the time I don't even add them to a Goodreads shelf.
ReplyDeleteExactly. I just pretend I never had that unpleasant experience. UNLESS someone point blank asks me for my opinion on a specific book that I DNFed.
DeleteI don't rate them either, unless it has some seriously problematic contents. Honestly, my time is too precious for me to be writing DNF reviews. I got no time for that!
ReplyDeleteI love you! That line totally made me chuckle. I just want to spend more of my time gushing over some book I loved. I do give feedback via NG or EW to the publisher if I DNF, because they want that, but I don't write a review.
DeleteI don’t rate them because that doesn’t seem fair. I do mark the book as DNF on Goodreads and write a few sentences about why I gave up on it. I don’t feel like I can say anything more than that because I didn’t finish the book. I mostly just pretend that the book never happened.
ReplyDeleteAj @ Read All The Things!
I think there are people, who want to know why you abandoned a book, and if you can figure out exactly what didn't work for you, that's great. I struggle figuring out what I didn't like in a book. It's so easy for me to figure out what I liked, but I have such a hard time with the negatives, unless they are glaring.
DeleteI can't remember the last time I DNF-ed a book and I think that makes me a bit of a black sheep in the book community... I don't know, I'm good at picking up books I enjoy and want to finish anyway? 😂
ReplyDeleteI have to say though, that I have to agree with you - I wouldn't feel alright rating a book that I haven't read just yet. Making comments on why I DNF-ed it, yes, like the pacing was too slow, I couldn't bear the characters and so on, maybe. But not rating, I don't feel like I could properly rate a book without having read it entirely :)
I don't DNF that many books, but I take a lot of chances with library books, and sometimes they are stinkers.
DeleteI don't rate DNF books either as I share your reasons. Maybe the book got better, but if it doesn't hook me right away or a few chapters in, then the chance is over as there are too many books out there for me. I also think it's not fair to the author--maybe this genre or style etc, isn't for me. I'd mention that I tried/started a book if someone asked and give reasons if they wanted to know why.
ReplyDeleteThat is what I always worry about. Sometimes I really appreciate that patient reviewer, who warns that they had to push through, but that it was worth it. Maybe I would have finished more books.
DeleteI very rarely DNF. I know what I like and tend to follow those instincts so thankfully the DNFs are few and far between. But when it does happen, nope no review, no star rating. I mean, how can I review or rate when I didn't finish the book? I don't get that. Sometimes I'll leave a few comments on GR, a sentence or two about why I'm ditching the book, but not a review. DNFing and then reviewing just does not compute.
ReplyDeleteThe star ratings probably bother me more than the reviews, because it hurts the average on GRs. I know I won't touch a book that dips below 3.5 stars. Maybe my low rating on a partially read book push that rating to a point that turned another reader off.
DeleteI find those one star ratings for books people didn't read so frustrating. If they want to write a review without stars, I get it, but it seems wrong to assign value to part of a book. And I always give feedback to the publisher if it's a review book as well. They claim they want to know.
ReplyDeleteI don't really DNF, I skim read. That way, if a book gets better, I know it. If I end up continuing to skim, it's a one or two star book for me. If I pick my interest back up somewhere along the way, that might change. :-)
ReplyDeleteNicole @ Feed Your Fiction Addiction
I can't skim. I was never able to skim. I used to try that when I was an undergrad, but it's a skill I never developed, but I can totally see the value in it.
DeleteI've really embraced the DNF over the past year and I've loved it, but I don't rate my DNFs either. Like you said, I don't really think it's "fair" to the book. Buuuuut, I do write a DNF review if I have strong opinions about the book because sometimes I think people deserve a warning if there's problematic content etc. And sometimes, I'll admit, I like writing DNF reviews because ranting can be fun!
ReplyDeleteI have heard something similar from other bloggers about sharing what they thought was problematic, which could be greatly appreciated by other readers.
DeleteFor me it depends on WHEN I DNF it and how I feel. Sometimes I want to vent about why I DNF'd a book haha
ReplyDeleteI seems you are not alone in this. I DNFed one book last year, that I sort of vented about when I gave a reply to the publisher. I am not a written type of ranter, I keep my rants primarily oral, but I did express my frustration somewhere.
DeleteI don't really rate the DNF or post them on my blog.
ReplyDeleteMe neither. I am not even sure if I ever mentioned them in a comment or anything. I just highlight them in red in my spreadsheet and move on to better books.
DeleteI get it, when I DNF a book I won't tend to review the book itself but may want to mention it and give the reasons I DNF-ed. Like, I feel like folks deserve to hear what didn't work for me. I never rate it, though, because that really is unfair. And I love you're all for embracing the DNF, nobody has time for bad books, especially book bloggers.
ReplyDeleteAbsolutely no time for bad books. There are a lot of people, who share what didn't work for me. It just seems wrong for me to bring their rating average down, when I didn't even finish the book.
DeleteI actually think DNF in and of itself is a rating. I am sometimes wary about writing a review, unless I want to get my irritation out points that annoyed me, but I don't tag anyone associated with the book in that.
ReplyDeleteOMG! I am always so shocked, when I hear people tag the author in negative reviews. Ouch!
DeleteI have rated a few books that I didn't finish but I don't do that anymore. Usually, I just write a quick reason for stopping on my goodreads review and move on.
ReplyDeleteI understand sharing your thoughts. You most likely have followers, who have similar tastes, and if you didn't like something, maybe they won't either.
DeleteSo this is hard because my DNF shelf only has 5 books on it total hah. I did review them all. But I didn't rate them, I just marked them as DNF, which is its own rating on my blog AND an exclusive shelf on my Goodreads. I feel like it's worth it to explain WHY I didn't finish, in case this thing would make others not want to pick it up either, I guess. Basically, I think I DNF so infrequently that it seems like maybe it's newsworthy hah.
ReplyDeleteI admire your push-through attitude. I appreciate when someone thoughtfully explains why they abandoned a book, but I feel like a great number of my DNFs were due to my mood, and therefore, not newsworthy.
DeleteIf I absolutely hated a book enough to put it down-- I will probably mention it, but I won't review it--seeing as though I didn't complete the book, seems like cheating to me. I hear you on this!
ReplyDeleteIf someone asked me about a book, that I had DNFed, I would share, and I bet your followers are curious too as to what didn't work for you.
DeleteI actually give a rating to books I DNF'd on GR. But I only review DNF'd books when I have read far enough and have something to say. Usually, I don't review them. I think any review is still helpful. I am one of those that read lower rated reviews before deciding to buy or read a book.
ReplyDeleteI have seen people mentioning that they only read the bad reviews for books, and that they are the biggest deciding factor for them. So, your review would be more helpful for them.
DeleteSince I've started blogging, I think I actually DNF more than I did before - but I always mark them at 1/5, and explain my reasons for the DNF.
ReplyDeleteLauren @ Always Me
I try to give the book minimally 20% as well. If I am not getting into it by 20%, it's really hard for me to keep going. I think it could be beneficial for others to know why you stopped reading the book. It gives them something to consider when they are evaluating weather to read the book or not.
DeleteI am exactly the same way! When I DNF a book, I usually just set it aside and pretend it didn't happen lol. Although recently I created a DNF shelf on GR just so I personally can keep track and not get confused. But I also feel like, what if the book gets better? What if something I thought didn't make sense actually has an explanation later? Stuff like that has happened to me many times, and it absolutely affects my rating/review/feelings toward the book, so I just don't feel like I can give a proper rating or review when I haven't actually read the whole book. That's the same reason I don't usually read DNF reviews in order to make my decision on whether to read a book or not. And that's also why I think rating DNFs is unfair. But I know some people don't care if a book gets better, if something part way through changes thing, etc., so DNF reviews still help them.
ReplyDeleteThe one thing I have totally embraced from my 35 years of therapy, is to minimize the negativity, so I don't like to talk about DNFs for that reason. I know who they are. They are marked on my spreadsheet, but I refuse to give them any additional power of me. I also have the same worries as you. Maybe that thing that bugged me works itself out, but I would never know. Sadly, I think I DNF most books because of my mood, so that would not be helpful to write a review.
DeleteI DNF so rarely that I actually forgot how I do it. On Goodreads I write short explanation of why and where I DNfed without a rating. I've seen lots of people say that those comments help them choose a book more than glowing reviews. But I DNFed a Netgalley ARC last week and I put my 2 sentence comment in the review section instead of in the notes to publisher like I did last time. Then it made me give a rating which I didn't want to do.
ReplyDeleteI wouldn't say I DNF a lot, but I will let a book go that I am not enjoying. Usually if I stick to my genre/sub-genra, and most of books are successful for me. I ran into that once on NG too, but I pushed through because you know, it hurts the average.
Delete