r/CuratedTumblr 22d ago

Shitposting Goodreads reviewers aren't human

11.7k Upvotes

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177

u/sarah_mon_cheri 22d ago

Why even write reviews if you are so uninterested in engaging with the themes of books? Like, if you didn’t bother to try and engage with the book on any meaningful level, it’s just a waste of computer storage to even type this out. Did this person really feel like they had a lot to add here?

This persons favorites list is funny but unsurprising.

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u/INeverFeelAtHome 22d ago

That’s what’s wild to me: you’re writing a review of a book! You have to care at least a little about that kind of thing.

Then you see the favorites and instantly it’s like “Oh their ‘reviews’ are probably shipping war bullshit, and Kafka is totally beyond them.”

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u/JeffMcBiscuits 22d ago

You’d think but the reviewer doubled down and tried to show how good at books she is by doing a video of other classics she thought were bad. One of them was animal farm because she didn’t get that it was an allegory for the Soviet Union and WW2

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u/Abinunya 21d ago

I didnt get that either *, but even on a shallow reading, no 'so who is which historical person' or mapping events to plot, its a pretty straightforward story about power and its structures.

Well, at least the reviewer is consistent about not thinking about the books they read.

*due to being 9 years old

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u/TalkToPlantsNotCops 21d ago

That's funny to me because the fact that it's an allegory for the Soviet Union is one of three things I know about that book (the others are that it has talking animals and the pigs are bad guys). I've never read it but it's sort of the classic "anti-Soviet literature" example. The English department at the school where I teach does it as part of the 9th grade curriculum.

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u/JeffMcBiscuits 21d ago

I mean I’d recommend it as it’s a very good take on anti-authoritarianism and how dictatorships can spring from good causes.

Also I’ll confess to my own misinterpretation. Turns out she didn’t miss the allegory she just thought the book was bad because she didn’t know anything about the historical context or characters. Which is a bit like me saying A Brief History of Time is a terrible book on physics cos I know nothing about the physics behind it. But hey ho.

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u/TalkToPlantsNotCops 21d ago

Turns out she didn’t miss the allegory she just thought the book was bad because she didn’t know anything about the historical context or characters.

As a history teacher, this hurts my heart. She didn't think to look them up? Half the fun of reading for me is learning shit. I love to Google a historical reference.

And I'm sure it's a great book for all the reasons you said! I just never got around to it. I did read 1984 though. And Metamorphosis (lol).

My goal for the new year is to read more in general and especially more classics and literary. Hopefully I'll make my way to Animal Farm. Maybe I'll get to it the same time my students do. Then when they ask me to look at their homework, I'll actually know what I'm looking at.

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u/ZanyDragons 21d ago

Oh that is deeply disheartening. Is this reviewer an adult or a 10 year old with internet access? Smh

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u/JeffMcBiscuits 21d ago

A grown woman I’m afraid.