Amazon and Goodreads “have limited or suspended reviews for Vice President JD Vance’s new book, Communion: Finding My Way Back to Faith, in a move some claim was in response to a flood of negative reviews,” The Daily Beast reported Friday. Amazon owns Goodreads.
I ran my own experiment and confirmed that all comments have been blocked on Goodreads by the Trump-kowtowing Amazon.
Just now, at 2:07 PM EDT, Goodreads says, “No one has reviewed this book yet.” I tried to do so, but got a message saying, “Rating this book temporarily unavailable.”
I had put the book on my “Read” bookshelf to try reviewing it. Now, I am unable to remove it. “Something went wrong with your request. Please try again later,” the message said.
I hope the delay is not because the Bezos site plans to terminate my account and turn over my data to Bill Pulte. However, unlike their adored felon in the White House, I have always been a law-abiding citizen.
On Amazon, Vance's book is currently #17 on its non-fiction bestseller list. And while the book has an average rating of 4.3 stars, including at least one 1-star review, one cannot read any 1-star reviews. “On Amazon, the ability to review the book has been restricted to verified buyers, leaving only seven reviews on the site: six 5-star and one 2-star,” The Daily Beast explained. That 2-star review happens to be mostly positive.
Meanwhile, over at Barnes & Noble, where a “Bonus $10 Reward” is offered for purchasers of Vance’s book, it has a 1.6 average rating, based on 29 reviews. I counted 18 one-star reviews from verified purchasers.
So, while it’s quite possible Amazon and Goodreads were review-bombed, it seems quite likely that it’s the book itself that is a bomb.
The Bezos sites don't seem to want you to know that.
