Sample Review Text and Its Structure (Various Topics)

This article's example review text/reviews are arranged briefly but still apply various appropriate rules and structures.

Overview of the Definition of Review Text

Review text or review (English: review) is a text that reviews the contents, advantages, and disadvantages of books, films, or other texts that the author has published. The structure itself consists of: title, introduction, the content of reviews/reviews, advantages, and disadvantages.

Here are some examples of review texts or reviews that are packaged in short, easy-to-understand language with themes: novels (Rain), textbooks, films, friendship dramas, etc.

Rain Novel Review Text Example

Title of Review / Review

Review of the Novel "Rain" by Tere Liye

Identity of Reviewer / Review

Title	:	Rain
Writer	:	Tere Liye
Publication Year	:	January 2016
Publisher	:	Gramedia Main Library
Number of pages	:	320
Genre/Category	:	Drama

 

Introduction (Orientation)

A novel is a form of literature that has existed from time to time and has not been replaced by other, more sophisticated media. This is natural because media such as films will still depend on text in its production.

Then, good texts are still written in prose like a novel before being made into a film scenario. One of the novels that managed to touch people's hearts is the Rain Novel by Tere Liye.

Contents of Reviews / Reviews (Interpretation)

This novel tells the story of love, friendship, as well as the dilemma of separation and division. Rain is a sub-theme that covers the whole content of the novel; phrases that are inserted through the slick allegorical figure of speech.

Readers will feel a lot of connection with this novel how the problem continues to hit and must be passed carefully and together. Love, anger, joy, and sorrow radiate from the daily stories that occur in it.

This novel has a short but strong number of characters. The main character is an orphaned woman because her parents died in a natural disaster. Even Lail, who is the main character, witnessed how his mother did not survive the cruelty of the disaster.

This is where this story begins. Lail then has more motivation to be able to help save others. Her chosen profession is to be a nurse. Like Tere Liye's other novels, this novel is also full of surprises from a typical plot twist.

Novel Excellence (Evaluation)

The twisting of Tere Liye's typical plot is still the main aspect of this novel. Most readers will not expect the various plot twists in it. The story is very interesting and tends to be easily understood by readers. The language used is simple but still beautiful.

Novel Weaknesses (Evaluation)

Some events seem too forced. One example is when a major natural disaster occurs, and it turns out that there are still buildings that are not damaged and are intact even though it seemed impossible for the incident to occur because of the enormous scale of the disaster.

Closing (Summary)

The stories in this book are very interesting. Coupled with strong and focused characterizations will make the reader more engaged and carried away by the story. Not to mention, through Tere Liye's typical plot twist, readers will be thrilled and curious to know the ending of the story.

Sample Book Review Text

Title of Review / Review

Book Review "Reading as a Language Skill" by Henry Guntur Tarigan

Identity of Reviewer / Review

Title	:	Reading as a Language Skill
Writer	:	Prof. DR. Henry Thunder Tarigan
Publication Year	:	2015
Publisher	:	Bandung Space
Number of pages	:	151

 

Introduction (Orientation)  

Reading is one of the important language skills to be mastered. What's more, during the industrial revolution 4.0, literacy is one of the keys to the success or failure of a person. Reading is the main tool to master the various literacy needed in dealing with this disruptive era.

This book was written by Prof. DR. Henry Guntur Tarigan from Lingga Julu, Kabanjahe, Tanah Karo, North Sumatra. He was a permanent lecturer at FPBS-IKIP Bandung and an outstanding lecturer in the subject "Indonesian Language Proficiency" at the Faculty of Letters, Leiden University, The Netherlands.

One of his works that are still being used as a reference for learning Indonesian is "Reading as a Language Skill," which will be reviewed in this review.

Contents of Reviews / Reviews (Interpretation)

The first chapter of the book, it is explained language learning which includes: listening, reading, speaking, and writing. It also explains the importance and the relationship between these various language skills for students or the general public.

Chapter two deals specifically with reading aloud. Reading aloud is an activity to capture information along with other people to understand the thoughts contained in the reading text. Until this chapter, the explanations in it are written in a short and easy-to-understand manner.

Then chapter three focuses on silent reading, which is the individual's way of truly understanding what is conveyed in the reading text. Furthermore, the next chapter is continued by a content study and ends with a language study in reading.

Readers will be spoiled by how this book describes the material for reading skills in a short but concise and clear way. The book discusses the overall skill of reading carefully.

Book Advantages (Evaluation)

Prof. DR. Henry Guntur Tarigan has the characteristic of making books about language according to the field of science he is studying. The book entitled "Reading as a language skill" by Prof. DR.Henry Guntur Tarigan has a simple shape and attractive cover color.

Prof. Dr. Henry Guntur Tarigan has a characteristic that makes language learning books according to what is needed in studying this science. This book uses clear and firm language and does not hesitate to repeat some explanations to make sure the reader really understands it.

Lack of Books (Evaluation)

Unfortunately, some of the choices of words or diction are still too heavy to understand. We must often open the glossary to understand a linguistic term that uses academic language or special scientific terms.

In fact, if you use simple terms and words, all people can understand them more easily without looking at the glossary. However, this can be a weakness or even an advantage for certain groups, especially for students who are pursuing higher education.

Closing (Summary)

This book discusses reading skills comprehensively and in-depth. However, keep using straightforward and simple language so that readers easily understand it. Even so, some word choices are a bit difficult, especially for readers who are new to linguistics. However, this cannot be called a deficiency because, in the end, this book is a scientific book that discusses linguistics in detail.

Laskar Pelangi Film Review Text Example

The following is an example of a review text for the friendship drama "Laskar Pelangi" written by Andrea Hirata and directed by Riri Riza.

Title of Review / Review

Film Review "Laskar Pelangi"

Identity of Reviewer / Review

Movie title	:	Rainbow Troops
Writer	:	Andrea Hirata
Director	:	Riri Riza
Producer	:	Mira Lesmana
Year Played	:	2008
Distributor	:	Miles Production & Mizan Production
Duration	:	120 minutes

 

Introduction (Orientation)

The film is one of the most popular forms of art by the public. Films, if produced properly, can provide entertainment as well as educate the audience with various strong messages conveyed through the story.

One of the films with these criteria is Laskar Pelangi, directed by Riri Riza. Meanwhile, the story is based on a novel written by Andrea Hirata with the same title.

Contents of Reviews / Reviews

The story begins when Ikal returns to his hometown on the island of Belitung. He then recounted his childhood there, when he first entered the Muhammadiyah elementary school. There he met 9 of his friends who later became known as the Laskar Pelangi group.

SD Muhammadiyah where Laskar Pelangi goes to school is the oldest school in the Belitung area. The school is very small, dilapidated, and inappropriate when compared to other schools such as the PN Timah School. Irony began to form when poverty hit the local people even though PN Timah was exploiting their land wealth.

But the joys and sorrows they face together there. With hiccups, the school continued to survive with their bright students, who were nicknamed Laskar Pelangi by Mrs. Hamzah, one of the teachers there. This is where the heart-warming main plot begins, how they all continue to be strong and survive in the face of all the limitations that surround their efforts to learn.

Film Advantages (Evaluation)

The daily stories of remote areas become the biggest strength of this film. It's the packaging is a simple but striking storyline is also one of the irreplaceable advantages. The beauty of the island of Belitung is also a charm in itself from the side of cinematography.

Lack of Film (Evaluation)

There is an incomplete explanation of how Lintang gained extraordinary knowledge in even knowing the Latin name of certain plants. Even though their school is a remote school, it is difficult to get books of knowledge.

For example, if there was an explanation that Lintang got access to quality books via a ship that stopped by and happened to be carrying a load of books, the story would make more sense. In addition, it is not explained how Lintang obtained his knowledge.

Closing (Summary)

Through the story of his warm friendship and his struggle with the various shortcomings faced, this film becomes very interesting and meaningful to watch. The story can inspire and motivate us not to waste the various advantages that we already have.

The slick story of the writer and the aesthetically pleasing cinematography of the director make this film a visual as well as a psychological excursion that can enlighten the heart. It's no exaggeration to name the film "Laskar Pelangi" as one of the best Indonesian films.

Sample Text for a Novel Earth of Mankind

Title of Review / Review

Review of the Novel "Bumi Manusia" by Pramoedya Ananta Toer

Identity Review / Reviewer

Title	:	Human Earth
Writer	:	Pramoedya Ananta Toer
Print	:	January 17, 2011
Publisher	:	Lantern Dipantara
Number of pages	:	535

 

Introduction (Orientation)

Bumi Manusia is the first book in the "Buru" tetralogy written by one of Indonesia's greatest writers, Pramoedya Ananta Toer, while in prison on the island of Buru in 1975. This book was banned from publication in 1981 because it was deemed to contain bad teachings.

In fact, in fact, this book is actually rich in history, especially during the Dutch colonial period, and the message it contains actually evokes a sense of nationalism. This novel is considered very influential, and Pramoedya Ananta Toer almost got proposed to get a Nobel Prize for it. How not, until 2005 alone, this book was published in 33 different languages.

Contents of Reviews / Reviews

This novel is set in the late 18th century, presenting the atmosphere very nicely and in detail. The location described in the book Bumi Manusia is Wonokromo at the end of the 19th century, which is a sugarcane plantation area, Surabaya, Blora.

It is as if the reader is in that century when reading it. Readers will be made as if they were in that era with the hustle and bustle of the colonial atmosphere that creates its own romance.

The story begins with the story of an indigenous descendant, namely Minke. He was often ridiculed by the Dutch full-blooded because of his dark skin and essentially because he was of indigenous descent. But for the size of the natives at that time, Minke was an educated figure.

Unlike most other natives, Minke had the opportunity to study at a Dutch East Indies school. He studied at a school where the teachers came from European soil (mostly the Netherlands). Various European literacy and culture have been formed in it.

He then greatly admired European culture and almost forgot his own country. But he realized that his admiration was only for his knowledge in the end. He was struck by the fact that his people were being slaves to European colonies who did not respect indigenous human rights.

In his story of fighting for indigenous rights, he meets a native of Dutch descent who has a European face but Indonesian hair and eyes. He finally fell in love with her.

However, his meeting with Annelies, the descendant girl, actually brought him to the peak of the problems he had to face in the Dutch East Indies court, which did not pay attention to indigenous rights before the law.

Advantages (Evaluation)

The advantage of this book is that it reflects a very rich and detailed history. The novel carefully pays attention to the entire atmosphere and socio-political situation at that time. What is presented is not as cliche as the story of colonialism alone, but ownership that is rarely highlighted actually appears and is conveyed more quietly in the story.

Pram's skill in writing is really shown in this book. His fluent language style, sharp thoughts, story style, choice of words, and how he manages to bewitch his readers to come in and feel the stories and images created in this novel are rare to find.

Weaknesses (Evaluation)

There are almost no flaws that surround this novel. In some sections, some terms and ideas may be more difficult to digest, especially for the layman or someone whose literacy is not as bright as Pram.

But that is precisely one of the features of this novel, being able to open new horizons of knowledge while providing entertainment both concretely through its thrilling narrative and story and spiritually through enlightening new thoughts.

Closing (Summary)

It's no surprise that this book almost brought him the Nobel Prize. This extraordinary book combines slick imagery, exciting narration, and a strong moral message that can enchant the reader as if he really entered the world of a novel filled with endless literary charms.