Ambivalent?

[bookgirl320]

I'm trying to write a review of a book, and usually I don't have much trouble because I have a pretty clear idea about the book and how I feel about it. This particular book however, well, I just don't know how I feel about it. I was hooked, couldn't stop reading it; it was well written and had distinctive characters. But after the last page, I was left unsettled. I know reviews can be straight forward, but for me, I need to have, at the very least, an inkling of like or dislike about it. Pro and con lists don't really work. Have you ever encountered a book that leaves you in a muddled place, mentally or emotionally?

[The Canadian Witch]

oh yeah, it has happened to me in the past, when that happens i write everything i think about it, i let it flow, then i reread myself and put some order in it and clean it up while still representing what i felt.

A good example for me would be To kill a Mockingbird. Great book, incredible, a classic but i even ended up in tears and wanting to throw the book against the wall out of frustration and emotional struggle.

[SPasciuti]

Yeah, I've had a few of these. I've found, often, that when I'm not sure how I feel about a book, reading other people's reviews can help me find words for the way I'm feeling. It doesn't always work out that way, since there's no guarantee that another person is going to feel the way you do, but I think a fair amount of the time it happens that there's someone who's experienced something similar to me.