This is interesting, because every now and then there's a disconnect between a book that is wildly praised and my appreciation of it, and I often wonder if that's a cultural issue. My taste is only that, and I rarely make the mistake of thinking that if I don't get a book, it must of necessity be the book's fault. Often I'll simply shrug and say okay, this book was just not written for me. And that was my repsonse to ye Sawtelle saga.
And yet - when a book is praised ridiculously and you can find glaring flaws that transcend matters of taste, it is doubly annoying! One of the worst books I've ever read, and one of the most disappointing, was The Historian, by Elizabeth Kostova. Sounded brilliant, just my thing, topping NY bestseller lists... And it is so badly written! The conceit is much of it is a diary, and those [articular chapters are still written as one writes a narrative and
that is a whole different genre!
It's a mistake often made in fanfic; letters that feature ellipses, for exmaple. People *don't* write 'I don't - I can't go on. Or maybe I should ... God, I don't know!' They write, 'I fell like I should go on but I don't know how.' And Kostova's book was
riddled
with this sixth grade crap! And a good writer has 'voice' - given the multiple authors, I should have been able to tell at a glance whose diary we were reading, but no. It's exactly the same mediocre style throughout.
Ooh, sorry, your delicious rant lit a fire under me, too! But yes - bottom line, when I read a book that's been praised to the skies, I damn well expect to have something exceptional in my hands. If it's good, but it's not to my taste, fine; but if there are structural points and authorial choices that I can objectively point to and say, what the - ? Irritation is too fine a word for it.
no subject
And yet - when a book is praised ridiculously and you can find glaring flaws that transcend matters of taste, it is doubly annoying! One of the worst books I've ever read, and one of the most disappointing, was The Historian, by Elizabeth Kostova. Sounded brilliant, just my thing, topping NY bestseller lists... And it is so badly written! The conceit is much of it is a diary, and those [articular chapters are still written as one writes a narrative and
Ooh, sorry, your delicious rant lit a fire under me, too! But yes - bottom line, when I read a book that's been praised to the skies, I damn well expect to have something exceptional in my hands. If it's good, but it's not to my taste, fine; but if there are structural points and authorial choices that I can objectively point to and say, what the - ? Irritation is too fine a word for it.