November 28, 2010 It was Fear That Made Me Do It.
Last spring, I reviewed a book that was well written and effectively dealt with its subject matter. Nevertheless, the topic upset me. No, it terrified me:- it offered suggestions how the maturing gardener should modify the landscape and adapt one’s mindset to the prospects of old age. I am at a point in life where arthritis and reduced energy levels are beginning to compromise my abilities to garden without some assistance. Every chore now takes longer to accomplish than it did the year before. This new reality is making me very unhappy and frustrated. That one day I might not be able to garden at all, is a terrible thought. It was that fear that influenced my original evaluation of the publication, when I posted the review to Amazon, in May 2010. Instead of giving the book the high ranking that the tone of my review suggested, I gave it only 3 stars.
The book is titled Gardening for a Lifetime; How to Garden Wiser as You Grow Older, by Sydney Eddison..
Since posting that review, three prospective book purchasers, who came across my review at the Amazon site, contacted me to express their puzzlement. The high praise that I gave the book was out of sync with my Amazon star-ranking of it and they wanted to know why.
Is it not possible to acknowledge that a book is well written and still only moderately recommend it, because of the off-putting nature of the subject matter? In retrospect, I think not. If a book is well written it should be praised for its excellence, regardless of the reviewer’s bias against its message or subject matter.
Should the ranking of any book take into consideration how it might be received by any unintended reader? No, it was a mistake to think so. The book was written for a very specific audience. It has no attraction for the unintended reader who might not care, or even be aware, that it exists.
Perhaps I was being much too philosophical when I ranked the book. Perhaps I should have focused only on the target audience for whom it was originally intended. Clearly, three potential readers believed that my ranking decision was wrong. Since I understood that a philosophical explanation of my action would never be as effective as the strength of their reasonable queries, I revisited my review at Amazon and raised the rank of the book from 3 to the 4 stars that it deserved. This entire experience has taught me to never insinuate personal and very private concerns into a book review. Such matters are best dealt with in a blog.
Reader Comments (3)
This is something none of us want to look at. I think if we are not willing to make changes, like smaller properties, or hiring help then we will not be lifetime gardeners. I am glad you changed your rating based on the worthiness of the book.
Gardening can be done on many levels if we are willing to accept our limitations. There is an enabling garden setting at the Chicago Botanic Garden where people can sit or even those in wheelchairs can garden in raised beds.
I have already made up my mind that I will garden on any scale, even if it is just tending a few plants in pots.
Eileen
I have never written a book review for the public, so I can not speak from experience, but even so, I do think that I can say that it is a task that comes with considerable responsibility. An author can spend months and even years writing a book. That alone makes it deserving of some respect. Rarely is the occasion, that an author does not put their heart and soul into the task of writing a book. And yes, like a singer who takes the center stage only to belt a song sadly out of tune, an author sitting at a keyboard may likewise fail to write sentences of the highest caliber, no matter how much of that heart and soul her or she poured into the endeavor. Regardless, I think one has to respect the courage it takes to step forth into an public act of self-expression.
I also think that it would be hard for a reviewer to be so objective as not to bring a least a little of themselves into the task of writing a review. After all, it is a personal evaluation of the book. A review is only as good as the reviewer.
I think that most gardeners, including myself, worry about the day when tending our gardens will be beyond our physical capabilities. I do not think you are alone in being terrified of the prospect.
Allan, I'm late to comment because I'm just finding some time to catch up on my favorite blogs. I couldn't help smiling when I read this because I knew exactly how you felt -- that "I should probably be paying serious attention to this"/"I don't want to think about it" tension. Just before you published your review of Edelson's book last spring, I was in a bookstore and browsing garden books, partly with an eye to some I might want to review in my blog. I picked up Gardening for a Lifetime and then quickly put it back on the shelf; I just wasn't ready to think about it yet!