The latest fad amongst writers seems to be experimenting with point(s) of view. For a pulp fiction reader like myself, this tosses a monkey wrench into what should be a calming evening with a whodoneit book. I just finished a Sue Grafton detective mystery {Z {finally}} where she used at least three and maybe four characters as the focus(es) of her first person writing. It used to be that the device was simply alternating chapters, but that was too easy, readers could skip every other chapter and finish the book in half the time. I just finished a good book, “A Call From Jersey,” by P.F. Kluge, where he switched points of view, mid-paragraph, between father and son.
My point is that things have gotten out of hand with POV and we’re entering the twilight zone of artsy Swedish films that pride themselves on keeping their viewers mystified as to what is really happening and why.
We had a Brown Bag book five or six years ago, Hadden’s “a curious incident … ..” (see reverse) that used an autistic’s (Christopher’s) POV. Good book – well done. If this month’s book was about autism, it was a poor reworking of well-trod ground. But that’s an “If.” Maybe it’s just about a “normal” guy that goes bezerk finding his wife with another man. But I don’t buy it. I’m a normal guy and I’ve even been cuckholded by a wife and neighbor; but I didn’t spend four years in a loony bin. It appears that he was a cool guy before the incident, so it’s hard to believe this was a latent (and severe) anger management problem. Depression can be serious, but these days they give you some pills and you’re sort of normal. This guy’s been seriously wacked out for four years; and just saying the guy was screwy doesn’t make it an interesting story.
So there is where I gave up – it’s not an interesting story. I don’t really understand why this guy is so wacky, and thus I have no sympathy for him or his new neighbor girlfriend who appears to have similar, but also undefined, problems. Maybe if the author had cut out, say, three of the football games, and used the space to develop the character before the incident, the reader might be able to root for him.
No sympathy for the protagonist was developed. I didn’t learn anything (that is sometimes a mitigating factor.) To cap it off, it wasn’t well written: simplistic and jumpy, bad transitions; not even any steamy sex with the babe next door.
BORING. !.!
My point is that things have gotten out of hand with POV and we’re entering the twilight zone of artsy Swedish films that pride themselves on keeping their viewers mystified as to what is really happening and why.
We had a Brown Bag book five or six years ago, Hadden’s “a curious incident … ..” (see reverse) that used an autistic’s (Christopher’s) POV. Good book – well done. If this month’s book was about autism, it was a poor reworking of well-trod ground. But that’s an “If.” Maybe it’s just about a “normal” guy that goes bezerk finding his wife with another man. But I don’t buy it. I’m a normal guy and I’ve even been cuckholded by a wife and neighbor; but I didn’t spend four years in a loony bin. It appears that he was a cool guy before the incident, so it’s hard to believe this was a latent (and severe) anger management problem. Depression can be serious, but these days they give you some pills and you’re sort of normal. This guy’s been seriously wacked out for four years; and just saying the guy was screwy doesn’t make it an interesting story.
So there is where I gave up – it’s not an interesting story. I don’t really understand why this guy is so wacky, and thus I have no sympathy for him or his new neighbor girlfriend who appears to have similar, but also undefined, problems. Maybe if the author had cut out, say, three of the football games, and used the space to develop the character before the incident, the reader might be able to root for him.
No sympathy for the protagonist was developed. I didn’t learn anything (that is sometimes a mitigating factor.) To cap it off, it wasn’t well written: simplistic and jumpy, bad transitions; not even any steamy sex with the babe next door.
BORING. !.!
No comments:
Post a Comment