Writing Book Reviews A book review tells not only what a book is about, but also how successful it is at what it is trying to do.
Professors often assign book reviews as practice in careful analytical reading.
WHAT question about a book. Thus, in writing a review, you combine the skills of describing what is on the page, analyzing how the book tried to achieve its purpose, and expressing your own reactions. The viewpoint or purpose may be implied rather than stated, but often a good place to look for what the author says about his or her purpose and viewpoint is the introduction or preface. Again, these will often be stated in the introduction. Depending on your book's purpose, you should select appropriate criteria by which to judge its success.