Understanding review writing

Review writing

What exactly is review writing?

“A review is a critical evaluation of a text, event, object or phenomenon” (Lecture content) . We judge things everyday and as a reviewer, your job is to state your opinions or judgment and support you them by presenting reasons and evidence. Review can be negative, positive or mixed. A review is when you give your personal opinion. According to a report by Bitesize, the aim of review is to offer an honest critique of the object under review, and to make recommendations to your audience. 

A good review includes enough detail to give others a feel for what happened, explain which factors contributed to your positive, negative or just so-so experience. You might also offer your view on what company is doing well, and how they can improve. But keep things friendly and courteous. Being detailed, specific and honest constitute good review writing and your review should not contain information that identifies people and do not be mean. “To have a good review writing, you should avoid hyperbolic phrases both positive and negative.” Lecture notes. Perceives report as “In most glowing review, you may not include dislikes. A good review is made up of a writing that is based on reasonable expectations.” (Ramirez, 2019).

Bad review writing is constituted probably by one specific experience. Even though a review is considered as opinion piece, including I, me, my constitute bad review. According to my lecture content notes, immediately labelling something terrible just because it isn’t to your taste and the also being mean build bad review.

Brent Meersman was born in Cape Town in 1967. His first job was in 1989 when he was a new photographer at the height of turbulence that saw the closing days of apartheid. He has had an eclectic career-business entrepreneur, property developer, managing director of a hotel and in the theatre world, he has acted as a performing artist manager, producer, marketer and impresario. He has spent much of his time traveling-at last count 60 countries-having visited every continent including Antarctica.  Since 2003, he has been performing arts critic for the Mail & Guardian covering theatre, opera, ballet and dance. In 2005,he started South Africa’s first theatre blog: www.realreview.co.za. He teaches as a semester course on Arts Journalism at the University of New Cape Town in the Film and Media studies Department. He writes on politics and economic for the UK-based UK-based news magazine, New Africa Analysis. His first shot was published in the Invisible Ghetto (1993) and his most recent in What Love is (Arcadia Book, 2010). His latest novel Reports Before Daybreak was published by Umuzi in 2011. His novel Primary Coloured was published in 2007.

The first piece by Meersman that is titled ‘Bitten by the food bug’ is the best. Reason for saying is the price range mentioned not forgetting locations. The two terms “Foreign cook” are kind of mean and racist especially now that we live in a time of non-apartheid. Him making up restaurant Taboo in 2011 as April fool was not a good move. That could’ve done a very huge damage for the restaurant from losing customers to being questioned and be placed under inspection. That is not good for the business. It’s not a joke that is funny because it can be easily believable.

On the second piece that is about Confused but content is more like a restaurant review. It is a good one because Meersman included many things like mentioning the type of food offered there by the cuisines and locations. He also mentioned operating hours like when he said “On a restaurant door solo pe il prazo means only open for lunch in Rome, but in Vicenza it only means only open for dinner”. He also shared exciting things about Mez-zaluna and how good their spaghetti is. Not mentioning food prices and recommendations is one of the things that makes this piece incomplete and be the bad one. Lastly each and every place has pros and cons which one the cons about the Café Giulia mentioned made the piece rich in content.

On the last piece by Meersman , the use of I is used multiple times especially on the 3rd paragraph constitutes bad review writing. “ It is right to reiterate that because of our apartheid legacy, the wealth. (which is very white in Grahamstown” says Meersman. Now saying that sounds as if he is being racist and is emphasizing inequality on both blacks and whites.