Before taking on how to write a nonfiction book review, I wrote a post about the anatomy of a book review and my formula. While it works well for fiction, nonfiction may not follow that same outline. Nonfiction covers a wide range, from memoirs to poetry collections to academic examinations of society, culture, and politics.
Disclosure: Some links in this post are affiliate links. If you click them to make a purchase, I will earn a commission. The decision of whether or not to buy something is completely up to you.
Summary
I always recommend leaving this for last, as it’s often easier to gather a sense of a summary once you’ve gone through all the points. For nonfiction, it’s less a summary of plot and characters, but more a thesis statement about themes, structure, voice, and impressions.
Structure
Here, a nonfiction book review answers a few questions:
- What format does the book take?
- How does that format inform the reader’s understanding of the material?
- How does the format hinder the comprehension of content?
In a book about academic concepts, history, or social commentary, the author may define crucial vocabulary necessary to understand the entire work. In an essay or poetry collection, you may focus more on the flow of each piece on an individual basis and collectively as an overarching narrative.
Themes or Concepts
Do you remember in elementary school when you first learned how to write a five-paragraph essay? The opening paragraph follows the topic sentence, three supporting details, and then a concluding sentence. And that paragraph outlines how the rest of the essay follows.
That’s where this part of the nonfiction book review goes. Or, parts of it at least. It doesn’t have to follow that outline, but it helps to use this structure for discussing the themes and concepts.
Strengths and Weaknesses
Here, you can begin winding down and talking about what worked and what did not. This offers an opportunity to catch any loose ends that you may not have covered in the rest of the review. Of course, as with the rest of the review, keep in mind that these are merely your opinions of how you experienced the work.
Conclusion and Rating
You could make the above section its own, or you could encompass it into the conclusion and rating. It depends on the type of nonfiction book you review and your personal preference. This is also where you give the book a grade, whether you use the star system or another rating tool. Including how it left you feeling or if it inspired you to take an action adds a personal touch to what could become a dry analysis.
Find a few nonfiction titles on my Bookshop page.