The first rule of book club ...

[Anonymous]

Book clubs aren't school, adults can share their opinions however they want. If someone says they hate it and doesn't care to explain why, who cares, move on to the next person and discuss with them.

I've been in a few different book clubs and no one has ever said anything remotely like people who like this book are idiots. Hopefully someone shut that down in the moment.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My book club doesn’t make comments like OP’s. Also, if a member hasn’t finished the book on time, too bad—we are discussing all parts of the book.

+1. No complaining about spoilers at book club.

[Anonymous]

I agree that it's not great to just say you hated a book, but the opposite is also true. I'm in a casual book club where invariably, one of the first things someone says is "I really loved this book." If I have critiques, big or small, it's hard to follow that kind of blanket statement.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I agree that it's not great to just say you hated a book, but the opposite is also true. I'm in a casual book club where invariably, one of the first things someone says is "I really loved this book." If I have critiques, big or small, it's hard to follow that kind of blanket statement.

I think that's a fair statement but usually someone would follow up and ask "what did you love about it?"

Also my book club is not shy about having different opinions and often people may change their minds during the conversation, in both directions. Like started out as a 6/10 rating but in hearing about the nuances may go up to a 7 or 8.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I agree that it's not great to just say you hated a book, but the opposite is also true. I'm in a casual book club where invariably, one of the first things someone says is "I really loved this book." If I have critiques, big or small, it's hard to follow that kind of blanket statement.

I think that's a fair statement but usually someone would follow up and ask "what did you love about it?"

Also my book club is not shy about having different opinions and often people may change their minds during the conversation, in both directions. Like started out as a 6/10 rating but in hearing about the nuances may go up to a 7 or 8.

Mine too! We rarely have the same feelings about a book ... the discussion can make us think of new angles or things to appreciate. (Or things to hate -- ha!)

[Anonymous]

I honestly think there are a few people who are trying very hard to be controlling of the DCUM book club forum. I've seen an uptick of poeple (one person?) complaining when someone says they didn't like the book.

I think it's a little overkill to try to police this forum too closely. If it's a comment that is clerly over the line, then report it. If it's just a comment I hate this book, well, OK, that's not terribly informative, sure, so ask why? They may or may not respond. People are allowed to have differing opinions.