beamjockey (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
beamjockey) wrote2014-06-26 06:24 pm
beamjockey) wrote2014-06-26 06:24 pm
Reviewing Hillary
I remember studies by Valdis Krebs a few years back on what we can learn from Amazon's "customers-who-bought-this-also-bought" network of political books. I wonder if this network would be any less polarized, or any less depressing to contemplate, in 2014.
For some reason I recently looked up Hillary Clinton's new book, Hard Choices, on Amazon.com..
The 1024 Customer Reviews have a distinctly bimodal distribution:
245 5-star
29 4-star
26 3-star
35 2-star
689 1-star
Every one of the Most Helpful Customer reviews displayed on the main page (for the Kindle edition) is a one-star review, e.g., "Excruciatingly Boring, Overly Long, Insipid Pabulum." (sic)
I read a few, and realized that they'd been penned by reviewers who were politically opposed to Hillary Clinton. So I looked at some of the five-star reviews.
"Yes, the finest fantasy literature in the 21st century." "George R. R. Martin, move over. . . there is a new Mistress of truly Epic Fantasy."
Oh.
I'd never thought much about this: Amazon's customer reviews are a political battleground. Meta-arguments about reviewing are also erupting there.
Also, the work of those determined to signal, by means of one-star reviews, that this is a horrible book is being undermined by those of their fellow Clinton-bashers who are playing the 5-Star Fantasy Novel joke.
Maybe I'll read some of the 2-star, 3-star, and 4-star reviews to find out how good the book is.
For some reason I recently looked up Hillary Clinton's new book, Hard Choices, on Amazon.com..
The 1024 Customer Reviews have a distinctly bimodal distribution:
29 4-star
26 3-star
35 2-star
689 1-star
Every one of the Most Helpful Customer reviews displayed on the main page (for the Kindle edition) is a one-star review, e.g., "Excruciatingly Boring, Overly Long, Insipid Pabulum." (sic)
I read a few, and realized that they'd been penned by reviewers who were politically opposed to Hillary Clinton. So I looked at some of the five-star reviews.
"Yes, the finest fantasy literature in the 21st century." "George R. R. Martin, move over. . . there is a new Mistress of truly Epic Fantasy."
Oh.
I'd never thought much about this: Amazon's customer reviews are a political battleground. Meta-arguments about reviewing are also erupting there.
Also, the work of those determined to signal, by means of one-star reviews, that this is a horrible book is being undermined by those of their fellow Clinton-bashers who are playing the 5-Star Fantasy Novel joke.
Maybe I'll read some of the 2-star, 3-star, and 4-star reviews to find out how good the book is.