The new at the back fence Don’t Go In There is up. It talks about violence rating. You know those people who want other people to protect grown ups from scary things that go bump in the night or upset them.
Of course who can say what will upset them. ‘Them’ would be a ton of different people wouldn’t it… I need to go back and reread it because I am not sure how her opening paragraph wouldn’t fit sensuality ratings as well.
Thinking on that… how do you feel about sensuality ratings? Do you use them? Should reviewers use them? Should they matter?
Are you pro violence ratings? It seems we would get to the point to where we are rating everything. And that seems wrong. I blogged about this a little in August, Oh Grow Up. LOL and am sure I will blog about it again *g*.
oh in case you are wondering… the title comes from the song Everything Zen by Bush on the cd Sixteen Stone
I’m anti ratings. Even the sensuality ratings, they’re pretty useless to me, since they’re more about frequency and length of sex scenes than about their inherent hotness. I think all those things are stuff that should be mentioned inside the review anyway… I mean, if I read a very hot book, that’s something I’ll say in my review. If it’s a very violent book, i’ll say it. And if it’s a mostly sweet, pleasant book, but there’s a horribly violent scene that comes out of nowhere in the middle, well, I’ll mention that too, of course!
Also, I think Anne Marble has a point when she says that we can’t predict what will hit us hardest. Someone mentioned in the message board that it’s all about what the reader brings with him/her to the experience, and that’s true, too.
Oh, and one last thing: if we start doing ratings for sex, ratings for violence, where do we stop? I mean, maybe it’s a bit screwed up, but me, I’m more upset by a cheating hero than by a particularly graphic murder. Should I be clamoring for Adultery Warnings? Should I be demanding AAR institute a Sexism rating, since that’s another thing that will ruin a book for me? I don’t think so.
Ooof, sorry for hogging the comments, LOL!
I think (as Bev once pointed out) that telling our readers (as a reviewer) if a book is erotica or not is a good idea. But a violence rating? The only reason I see to do that is if kids are going to read it…and uh, I would certainly hope they aren’t.
Movies I can understand. You don’t always know how violent or erotic a movie is going to be, so the rating system there works…because of kids. But for books? PFffft!
When I read her argument it struck me as “anti-sensuality” ratings as well – but that’s just me.
The only time I find sensuality ratings remotely helpful is if we’re discussing extremes. Is the book “sweet” or “erotic?” If I’m a reader who LOVES G-rated romances, well that rating becomes a lot more helpful. Those types of stories don’t exactly grow on trees anymore – so it’s nice when a reviewer can steer me towards that book. That said, the bulk of romances fall somewhere between the two polar opposites – so how helpful is that rating anyway? Not very – so I tend to ignore them.
I’m the same way with violence ratings. I mean, I know COUNTLESS readers who are fine with the serial killer murdering whole families, but the minute he kills the family dog – well that’s a deal breaker. I mean, how the hell do you rate that? Should we institute a dead animal rating? Beware, the bad guy kills little Johnny’s pet hamster?
So no, don’t pay attention to them – but again, I was reading some pretty gory mysteries by age 16, so not a whole lot shocks me.