Reviewing: Why & Where it All Began by Zehra Cranmer
I’m not going to lie, I was rather stumped as to what I was going to write about for this post, of course I had a thousand ideas but couldn’t quite hone in on one and blaming my lack of focus on a pregnant brain wasn’t sufficient enough. I moaned to Johanna like a child that I was blank but Johanna being who she is- rather centred, quite focused and a wonderful writer; she immediately suggested a post on my job as a reviewer. I pondered this for a while and thought, well yes, maybe I ought to say a few words of this rather large chunk of my life!
Before I launch into ‘why I review’ I suppose I ought to do the right thing and supply a little background. If we rewind to when I was about eight or nine, you would see a much younger version with me sitting beside my even younger sister with an italic pen poised in our hands. Our father; an academic, philosopher and dreamer set us the task of copying out what he wrote in his beautiful hand, long sentences composed of elegant swooping letters on composition paper. And oh what fun we had as we became transfixed with how enchanting words appeared on the page. I had always enjoyed copying paragraphs from all sorts of incomprehensible books, but the act thrilled me to no end. After our italic pen lessons were accomplished, we moved onto using the calligraphy pen which invited us to a world of even more nibs. Writing therefore had always felt right. I had already been enveloped in the world of books and knowledge as my father had a library that we had unrestricted access too, what more could a child desire!? And so, just as with writing, I fell deep into the world of books.
So why reviewing? I started reviewing around the time I started writing my first novel (in the draw) I also started reviewing around the time I became addicted to Virginia Woolf’s diaries and essays. I studied how she broke down what she read and drew up conclusions on the literature before and of her time. Essays such as ‘How to Read’ were incredibly fascinating to me as it made me take a few paces back and analyse what I was reading, and in turn, what I was writing. In fact, I found the more I broke down what I read and studied the literature that was set before me, the better my own writing and judgement became, it somehow sharpened those muscles. Of course, one learns all sorts when they take up reviewing, for example, one learns what kind of reviewer they are. I discovered that I was one that did not like to focus on reviewing literature that I had too many negative points to make. Instead of warning people away from books, I wanted to share books that I longed for people to read. Life is too short to be negative because at the end of the day, I want the reader to have something in their hands that will make them rejoice; to transport them and inspire.
The beauty of reviewing is getting a novel in your hands from a first time author, especially when you know that the writer is going to make it. It becomes the reviewer’s duty to share with the world new talent and help that writer get the platform they deserve, because as we all know, we live in a world where publicity is paramount, and I hope for the same grace when my own writing enters the world. It’s always such a joy when I hear from readers that they enjoyed my recommendations, it means that my job was done well, and in the meanwhile, I feel privileged to be a part of the magical process in the transportation of shelf to home where anything can happen. It’s a condensed insight into my views as a reviewer, but it’s more interesting to see from where it all began. Where will it end up? Well we shall have to wait and see.
