Jeanette DeMain, over on Salon.com, has taken it upon herself to investigate the Amazon.com reviews of classic works of literature. Unsurprisingly, many of them were given horrible one-star reviews. Her thoughts on her findings:

I really have to wonder about these folks. Are they disgruntled students? Trolls? Malcontents who have nothing better to do? Do they think they are tilting at windmills and bravely swimming against the tide of conformity by warning others not to read texts that are universally acknowledged as classics? (In which case I might recommend that they read Cervantes’ “Don Quixote,” but then I’d be afraid to see their reviews of it.)

The more of these that I read, the more I became desperate to find at least one book that would be impervious to the one-star brigade.

She provides several examples in her article. They are quite entertaining if you enjoy the irony of the barely literate trashing generally well-respected works of literature.

Interestingly, a one-star Amazon.com review plays an important role in Surveillance, which I recently reviewed. Lucy, one of the main characters, uses a one-star Amazon.com review as a critical part of her analysis of Augie’s memoir, which is a central element of the plot. Heck, Amazon.com reviews played a role in my review of Surveillance. Thus, the coincidental timing of DeMain’s article amused me.

Beyond entertainment, I have begun wondering about the role of book reviews. I have written numerous reviews for this blog, but I haven’t really considered what role they play. How do book reviews affect the way we think about books? Or the way we choose what to read? Authors don’t really have any control over these things. I had never heard of Giants in the Earth until Allison chose it as her April Great American Novel. She hadn’t heard of it until it was recommended by her father. As a computer scientist, I know that recommendation systems are active areas of research, and I may survey this a bit more after the Spring semester is over. I’m sure if I had studied literature in college this would have given me a much different perspective. I’d love to hear your thoughts in the comments.