Yesterday, in two sittings, I read a bad, internationally acclaimed, award-winning 250-page novel. I won’t name it, since I have no need or desire to bash it publicly. Let others waste their time with it too—or not! I had gone to some trouble to get it (ordering it from abroad, picking it up in Budapest after much procrastination and delay), thinking it would be jolting and memorable.
The most glaring defect was the lack of compelling language. I want something that makes me reread a phrase or passage, that makes me think, “I’ll be coming back to read this again.” Nothing of the sort happened. There was no memorable sentence, nothing that left me wanting to pick up the book again after finishing it except to see it to its next destination.
Moreover, the main character (the narrator) lacked both introspection and irony. She stopped short of seeing what she was actually doing, but this stopping short didn’t create much tension for this reader; it just fell flat. The author stopped short of a denouement; we were left to imagine how it would all work out. That in itself is fine in principle, but good god, that narrator needed a reckoning that she never got. Not that the book should have had a “moral,” but it just skimmed over the crisis.
The structural features (moving back and forth in time, connecting discrete moments) didn’t do much for the narrative either.
I don’t have much tolerance for novels in general unless they’re taut, playful, bold, surprising, and deep, or at least some of these. Examples: Dead Souls, Tristram Shandy, The Mayor of Casterbridge, The Alexandria Quartet, Lolita, The Unbearable Lightness of Being.
Why, then, did this get so much praise? Well, I think it will appeal to people who like a suspenseful plot and a breezy read, combined with a few stylistic touches and a dash of insight. It did have the benefit of being readable in a few hours. Now I just have to get rid of it so that I can give the shelf space to something else.
There is nothing wrong with a breezy book, or breezy reading. It’s just that this promised to be so much more. It did help me see, though, why I don’t read as much, in terms of volume, as people often expect of me. The books I choose are much slower-going, and I read them slowly on top of that. There’s something to be said for reading a book from cover to cover on a grey November day. But given the choice, I’ll stick to the slowness.
Take Away the Takeaway 
Bob Shepherd
/ November 20, 2023I would love to see a list from you, Diana, of favorite works of fiction, especially in English. I respect your tastes. I’m perhaps not as kind as you are. Here, I call out a terrible novelist by name:
Diana Senechal
/ November 20, 2023Terrific review and commentary, Bob! I haven’t read Brown and don’t intend to, but your fifth point, about how he doesn’t let actions speak for themselves but instead tells the reader how to interpret them, applies to an awful lot of bad journalism as well.
I will draw up a list of favorite works of fiction and post it soon. I’d be interested in yours as well!
Bob Shepherd
/ November 20, 2023Michael in Seattle
/ November 20, 2023I am loving this post! Thank you both for the commentary. And I will be saving that reading list, Diana.
I am a slow reader by nature — and by choice. To wit, i am just now discovering Gabriel García Márquez. So much literature, so little time.
Happy Thanksgiving to you both, if that fest is on your calendar.
Diana Senechal
/ November 20, 2023Thank you, Michael! More in this vein later (book list, slow reading, etc.). Happy Thanksgiving to you too!
michael9murray
/ November 20, 2023Dare I ask… Jon Fosse ?
Diana Senechal
/ November 20, 2023Ha! No, haven’t gotten to Fosse yet.
michael9murray
/ November 20, 2023That’s a relief, I haven’t either, so ….
Hideko Secrest
/ December 13, 2023Now I’m dying to know who wrote this book, so I can avoid it. And I’m impressed that you finished it. In my younger days, I took pride in finishing every book I started, but with the telltale thinning of the pages* of my life, I simply can’t afford to. If, after 100 pages, a book leaves me cold, I leave it in one of the many Little Free Libraries in my city….
*I could have sworn that this was a Jane Austen reference, but I couldn’t find it anywhere when I searched the term. Did I make it up myself? No, I’m not that clever.
Diana Senechal
/ December 13, 2023That’s a good phrase, wherever it comes from!
I rarely finish books I don’t like. This one was a swift read, and I wanted to find out if it would get better. It did have a compelling minor character.
I’m reading Proust now, in French. This is going to be slow, but good….
I’d love to know what some of your favorite books are.
Bob Shepherd
/ December 14, 2023I suspect that you are that clever. LOL. I know what you mean. Ars longa, vita brevis.