During a recent discussion with colleagues, a rating for a recent review I’d done was met with surprise. How could I not have given five stars to a novel I had, in fact, very much enjoyed?

Allow me to explain

It occurred to me my rating system is quite different from that of my colleagues’. They rate according to emotional response, which is quite fine.

However, for me, when I’m reading whether for pleasure or for research, I’m always analyzing what I’m reading, not just the content, but how that content has been put together and presented. So, allow me to elaborate for you what my colleagues and I discussed the other evening.

Five stars

Generally, this is a rare rating I accord, although I do admit I don’t always adhere to what follows. For me, a work of literature rates five stars if, in my opinion, there has been a demonstration of the apex of literary skill, and that skill is not bound by genre, rather solely upon artistic merit and craft. And such a high rating also means that I feel that work may very well stand the test of time and become a classic work in generations to come. It also means that work will likely find its way as a print book into my library.

Now, unfortunately, some of my colleagues think I refer only to works which are accorded those grand and enviable literary awards, works which, according to some, are coma-inducing pages of pretension. Not so. Might I point out works which are today considered classic works very often were written either for mass consumption, rife with bawdy humour and political jibes (Shakespeare), or serialized and gobbled up through newspapers by readers interested in the plight of the working class (Dickens), or considered romantic drivel (Bronte sisters and Jane Austen), or ridiculous speculation (Mary Shelley).

So, I accord five stars for works which craft with excellence not only the nuances of language, but characterization, plot, research, and literary devices. Five stars means there were moments I paused, stunned by a phrase, a passage which transported and amazed. It means that for days, weeks, and sometimes years later I still think about those characters, those situations, and can still be moved. Five stars means I have been so affected, that what the author has achieved is a profound communication. To me, that’s what constitutes classical literature. And that’s what merits five stars. I know, sounds awfully boring and pretentious, right?

Ten of the works I’ve rated five stars:

1. The Back of the Turtle, by Thomas King
2. Black Wine, by Candas Jane Dorsey
3. The Blind Assassin, by Margaret Atwood
4. The Orenda, by Joseph Boyden
5. The Innocents, by Michael Crummey
6. The Left Hand of Darkness, by Ursula K. Le Guin
7. A Fine Balance, by Rohinton Mistry
8. The King’s Last Song, by Geoff Ryman
9. Wuthering Heights, by Emily Bronte
10. Jude the Obscure, by Thomas Hardy

Four stars

Is all of the above, but didn’t quite make that level of profundity. It means that work may very well go on to be read generations from now, appreciated, studied, (and in some cases has) but is the silver medal instead of the gold.

Ten of the works I’ve rated four stars:

1. The House of Niccolo series, by Dorothy Dunnett
2. A Telling of Stars, by Caitlin Sweet
3. The Sea Wolf, by Jack London
4. The Steel Seraglio, by Mike Carey
5. The Broken Earth Trilogy, by N.K. Jemisin
6. Kraken Bake, Karen Dudley
7. Trickster Trilogy, by Eden Robinson
8. The Morgaine Chronicles, by C.J. Cherryh
9. The Mayor of Casterbridge, by Thomas Hardy
10. Mercy Among the Children, by David Adams Richards

Three stars

I reserve a three star rating for a good piece of writing which has been entertaining and engaging, quite interesting, but not a work which makes a profound statement, or a work which I found somehow flawed, not quite there. This is, of course, quite subjective. There are many works in this category which are definitely a good read, something to sweep the reader away. A few of my three star ratings:

1. The Book of Secrets, by M.G. Vassanji
2. Ysabel, by Guy Gavriel Kay
3. The Chronicles of Thomas Covenant, the Unbeliever, by Stephen R. Donaldson
4. Conceit, by Mary Novick
5. Keeper’n Me, by Richard Wagamese
6. In the Skin of a Lion, by Michael Ondaatje
7. Always Coming Home, by Ursula K. Le Guin
8. A Prayer for Owen Meany, by John Irving
9. The House of Medici: Its Rise and Fall, by Christopher Hibbert
10. A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man, b James Joyce

Two stars

Two stars is a rating I’m careful about according, because I have to separate personal bias regarding subject matter from the strictures of good writers’ craft. I do try very hard not to be too subjective about this. Equally, I’m painfully aware that art is entirely subjective. So, what rates two stars, for me, is a work which not only has been rife with exposition, pretension, plot flaws which are more like gaping holes, plausibility, character motivation, and thus and so. Two star books are ones which I am highly unlikely to ever read again, and yes indeed I do re-read books, some every few years. It’s like returning to an old friend. Two star books, however, are ones to pass on to someone else who may, or may not, appreciate them. Call two stars an amicable divorce.

1. Mary, Called Magdalene, by Margaret George
2. The New Moon’s Arms, by Nalo Hopkinson
3. Maelstrom, by Peter Watts
4. The Warrior Who Carried Life, by Geoff Ryman
5. Bodily Harm, by Margaret Atwood
6. Memoirs of a Geisha, by Arthur Golden
7. Treason, by Orson Scott Card
8. The Dragon’s Eye, by Joël Champetier
9. The Eyes of Heisenberg, by Frank Herbert
10. The Golden Mean, by Annabel Lyon

The Difficult and dreaded one star

One star usually means I couldn’t give the work zero stars. It often means I probably shouldn’t have reviewed it at all, just should have kept my great, almighty mouth shut and be done with it. But no, Lorina always has to wade in and pontificate, often to her chagrin and detriment. So, one star means I had a visceral dislike for the subject matter, the questionable research or author familiarity with the subject, how the piece was written, the viewpoints presented, and thus and so.

1. The Shipping News, by Annie Proulx
2. How to See Yourself as You Really Are, by the Dalai Lama
3. The Way of All Flesh, by Samuel Butler
4. His Dark Materials, by Philip Pullman
5. Pilgrim at Tinker Creek, by Annie Dillard
6. The Historian, by Elizabeth Kostova
7. The Twilight Saga, by Stephenie Meyer
8. The 100-Year-Old Man Who Climbed Out the Window and Disappeared, by Jonas Jonasson
9. At the Mountains of Madness, by H.P. Lovecraft
10. Adult Onset, by Ann-Marie MacDonald

Any wiser?

Probably not. It’s not like my reviews actually matter. It’s not like I’m a respected and followed influencer. I’m just one writer, one reader, one person, who loves art and literature and sharing ideas.

So, go forth. Read. Analyze. Write your own reviews. Discuss them and other reviews. Allow your opinion to be modified. And just keep reading.