
Once upon a time, I was reading book blurbs. How daring. When I spotted a sexy book in the bookstore, I would pull it from the shelf and, with no fear, read the whole blurb from beginning to end. I would expect to be introduced to the universe of said book, its main themes, and probably be exposed to a few marketing arguments on why I should really spend my money on it. How many purchases did I made, solely based on a book blurb?
*sigh*
I don’t read book blurbs anymore.
I didn’t even notice at first. At some point in the last few years, I started to read less and less of the book blurbs. As soon as I’d get the idea of what the book is about, I would stop. It’s The Three-Body Problem which made the problem clear to me. I was fortunate enough to read the blurb after I finished the book: when I was copying/pasting it in my review actually. I realized, then, that the blurb contained major elements of the plot; information that is revealed quite late in the novel and that should trigger some surprise. But there it was, flatly stated, potentially ruining the pleasure of readers who enjoy discovering a book at their pace. I couldn’t believe it, but there I was, adding a spoiler alert before the book blurb in my review.
Was it an accident? Not sure. Very recently, I made a friendly comment on a blog I enjoy reading (let’s be social: I’m referring to Dragana’s review of Seveneves by Neal Stephenson), pointing that her article contained spoilers. Mind you, I just reached the 47% mark of this book and I’m still not at the point she mentioned! It was not huge information, it was more about the (unexpected) scope of the novel. I was slightly disappointed; she was very sorry; and then I found out that Seveneves‘ blurb revealed it anyway! I always considered that all the information provided in a blurb is fine to include in a book review since, in some way, the publisher considered it acceptable to disclose. Dragana didn’t unveil any extra elements. Seveneves‘ blurb, though, does contain spoilers in my opinion.
Is it to make books look more interesting? Are blurbs becoming plot sum-ups? Or maybe most readers don’t mind being revealed elements of the story that appears far into the novel? No idea.
In any case, I don’t read blurbs, at least not past the first few lines. I check book covers, book reviews, book ratings, and especially I like to read the first page of a book. But blurbs are becoming to dangerous to read.
What about you? Did a blurb ever spoil a reading experience to you? Do you think book blurbs say too much?
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Hands DOWN the hardest thing for me to write is a book blurb. I can understand the temptation of wanting to GET people to read your book, but surprises MUST be left to the reader.
I hate it when movie trailers give everything away. And some certainly do.
William Galaini recently posted…Adventures in (Novel) Crowdfunding, Week One
Indeed, same thing applies to movie trailers! Sometimes, they even feel like a montage of all the scenes worth watching :((
I completely agree with you. I do think that book blurbs say too much. Sometimes they are plot sum-ups as you said and you are dissapointed by the end of the book. Because you expected something more will happen.
I agree that Seveneves would be much more interesting if we didn’t know what happens in the end, but they revealed pretty much everything in the book summary. That’s why I didn’t think I was spoiling anything, in fact I was much more vague than the blurb. Not that I am trying to make an excuse. :/
I try to avoid reading summaries for books because they are too spoiler-ish. There is a bad side-effect that sometimes I start reading books that do not fit me and I would have known that if I read the summary…. Neither of options is good, but for now I skip reading summaries and book continue to surprise me – sometimes good sometimes bad…
Dragana recently posted…Book Review: The Fifth House of the Heart by Ben Tripp
No worries, really, I understood why you mentioned *that thing* after I found it in the blurb! I also have this rule that if something is in the blurb, I consider it ok to be discussed in the review. I really believe it’s Seveneves‘ blurb that reveals way too much.
I’m glad I’m not the only one to think blurbs contain spoilers! I was wondering if I was over-sensitive about it! 🙂
I’ve stopped reading blurbs on books that I know in advance I will read, like auto-buy authors or sequels to a series I love. I HATE spoilers and I’ve been disappointed before – like you said, you get halfway into the book and there’s still no sign of the thing you read about in the blurb.
Mind you – sometimes it’s even simpler: Patrick Rothfuss’ The Name of the Wind belongs to a series called “The Kingkiller Chronicle” and we’re now some 2000 pages into a 3000-page story (2 books out of 3 published, I don’t know whether you’re reading it?) and still no dead kings… 🙂
Even if the blurb mentions “a huge surprise/twist” or something, I spend my whole time expecting it and it doesn’t surprise me at all… *sigh*
Kaja recently posted…Unplugging
No I didn’t read this series. I quite agree with you with the expectation thing! You would expect that all that is mentioned in the blurb is just “the beginning”, a preview to get you interested. But sometimes, it’s all there is to the book, and then you’re thinking: Oh? Well. Ok.
I 100% agree with you! Lately I avoid blurbs as well, for exactly the same reason as you. When I post book blurbs to my blog, I often use the official blurb but cut them off when I feel they are becoming too spoilery.
Some of the best books I read without knowing a thing about the book beforehand, so I want to share that experience with fellow readers.
Carola recently posted…Does this book even exist..?
Funny, when I wrote this post, I was wondering if I was just being difficult about blurbs! It looks like I’m not!
I completely agree. I almost never read blurbs anymore. If I do, it’s only the first couple of lines and then I squint and look away. I like knowing the genre and MAYBE a sentence or two about what it’s about but that’s it. I really dislike reading reviews because so many of them recap the story. I’d rather discover it for myself.
Hildy recently posted…Let’s Talk About Reviews
Exactly! I’d rather discover the story for myself too and I’m upset when a book blurb takes that away from me!