What's bugging you in the novel you're reading?

kuwisdelu

Revolutionize the World
Super Member
Registered
Joined
Sep 18, 2007
Messages
38,197
Reaction score
4,544
Location
The End of the World
Reading Updike's Rabbit, Run for the first time. The present-tense is kind of odd when he uses it for hundreds of pages. Especially considering there are these flashbacks that are written in the past-tense. It kind of feels herky-jerky to me.

That's what I do. Write the present in present tense and the past in past tense. Seems natural to me.
 

JalexM

Super Member
Registered
Joined
Mar 8, 2014
Messages
213
Reaction score
9
Currently reading Brandon Sanderson mistborn series. I'm at the beginning of the third and final book, but I seem to be extremely disinterested. I don't know why, I think it's because we have an untouchable/unseen threat that wasn't in the first two books and the guy got the girl and the girl got the guy. Or maybe I was spoiled by reading his storm light series first. It just doesn't seem as epic even though they do epic things.
 

Kashmirgirl1976

Recouping My Lost Marbles
Super Member
Registered
Joined
Jan 5, 2014
Messages
195
Reaction score
6
Location
Southern California
I'm reading Terry Southern's "Candy". I get that it's a satire about the sexual mores of the 50s and 60s, and I'm far from a prude. But, I find myself skeeved by the incest between the title character and her uncle. She's fine with it as though he was another man.

Is sex such a big deal that she'll "bone" her uncle without remorse? To each their own, I guess. I'll get over it as I am mildly annoyed.
 

Crayonz

Tribal Flame Warden Ducky
Super Member
Registered
Joined
Feb 13, 2009
Messages
1,489
Reaction score
364
Location
Neither here nor there. Or the Castle.
Reading Water for Elephants and am disappointed beyond belief. I bought the book on my kindle because it sounded interesting. I managed to get 70% of the way through it then had to stop. First the MC: still just as self-absorbed as he was on page one. No character growth at all. Second: the elephant. I don't know much about circuses, but I'm fascinated by elephants (and animals in general). I have a hard time believing any elephant, no matter how they had been raised, would tolerate some of the things that happen in this book. It's like she's a prop, not an actual character; thrown into scenes just because the author could, not because there was any real reason for her being there. So, while the world is interesting, the characters ruined the book for me.

I'm done ranting now. :D
 

Emermouse

Super Member
Registered
Joined
Jul 30, 2012
Messages
896
Reaction score
89
Age
38
Location
In America
I was disappointed with Water for Elephants too. The details about Depression-era circuses and stuff like Jake were interesting. The banal love story...not so much.
 

Lissibith

On target
Super Member
Registered
Joined
Jun 24, 2009
Messages
2,201
Reaction score
258
Location
Maryland, USA
I don't mind reading the second book in a series first, but it does sort of require reading in a slightly different way, since there's going to be some assumptions on the part of the author. Usually they're easy to recognize and work with.

But the book I'm reading right now and utterly lost with is apparently the second book in a series, and the *only* sign on the entire book that tells me this is the list of other books by the author. Nothing on the cover. Nothing in the story summary. I'm bothered enough that this may join the short list of just two books I've had to DNF
 

Lythande

I, am that is.
Super Member
Registered
Joined
Dec 24, 2013
Messages
158
Reaction score
15
Location
USA
Website
ankh-ascendant.deviantart.com
The main character is whiny, weak, angsty, embittered, self-pitying, and arrogant. Even his good qualities come off as a flaw because they're always copresented with his flaws.

My friend assures me that he'll grow up and stop being such a victim by the end of the first book. x___x

(Also the storytelling is a little hamfisted, but I could roll with that if I, say, liked a character in here...)
 

Brightdreamer

Just Another Lazy Perfectionist
Super Member
Registered
Joined
Apr 22, 2012
Messages
12,977
Reaction score
4,514
Location
USA
Website
brightdreamersbookreviews.blogspot.com
But the book I'm reading right now and utterly lost with is apparently the second book in a series, and the *only* sign on the entire book that tells me this is the list of other books by the author. Nothing on the cover. Nothing in the story summary. I'm bothered enough that this may join the short list of just two books I've had to DNF

Ergh - this is one of my big pet peeves! If it's a series, just tell me it's a series... and for the love of literature, clue me in on which one's first! Don't play games and tell me "you can read them in any order" - unless it's a sprawling universe like Discworld, where the stories don't necessarily interact in a chronological fashion, no, I can't!

Me, I just nuked a Kindle short that was taking a turn towards Too Obvious Avenue, with a likely sidetrip down Morality Lesson Lane up ahead.

I'm also still (yes, still!) pushing myself through Island in the Sea of Time by S. M. Stirling. The ideas are interesting, but I'm getting sick of the characters and the choppy execution. And, once again, everyone who doesn't automatically agree with the "good" core cast has been shown to be a naive nutcase or pure evil. Because there's clearly only one sensible way to approach things, so anyone who questions them must be wrong...
 

kclaw

Registered
Joined
Sep 4, 2013
Messages
38
Reaction score
1
Location
Vancouver
I was looking for stand alone books to read after some serious series-burn out (burnout to the point that I gave up on the final books of multiple series in the same month). And what do I pick up but a novel that ends up being the first book of a series (though nothing on the book itself or on goodreads or anything indicates this). I know that first time authors usually have to sell books as stand-alones "with series potential" but when that's the case the book actually should, you know, stand alone! I was so disappointed when I reached the last twenty pages and realized that there was no way the conflict was going to get wrapped up in this book. Or maybe ever.
 

katiemac

Five by Five
Super Member
Registered
Joined
Feb 11, 2005
Messages
11,521
Reaction score
1,661
Location
Yesterday
I just finished Jurassic Park. Prior to that I'd only ever seen the film. The characters seem to be a tad stupider.

"We've lost power and the electrical fences are down. What's the dark shape that just ran across the road? Must've been a opossum. Carry on."
 

kclaw

Registered
Joined
Sep 4, 2013
Messages
38
Reaction score
1
Location
Vancouver
I just finished Jurassic Park. Prior to that I'd only ever seen the film. The characters seem to be a tad stupider.

"We've lost power and the electrical fences are down. What's the dark shape that just ran across the road? Must've been a opossum. Carry on."

Ha! That is exactly the problem I've had with Chrichton in the past. I keep trying because every one keeps recommending him, but you hit the nail on the head. When my husband was reading Jurassic Park, he said it gave him a new appreciation for Jeff Goldblum "because chaos theory is actually not as interesting as he makes it seem in the movie."
 

Scribhneoir

Reinventing Myself
Kind Benefactor
Super Member
Registered
Joined
Jan 1, 2006
Messages
1,165
Reaction score
134
Location
Southern California
I just finished The Alington Inheritance by Patricia Wentworth and the thing that got on my nerves was her habit of having characters give blow-by-blow descriptions of earlier scenes. For instance, the MC had an encounter with a village boy. We got the whole scene in the approved show-don't-tell fashion. But then a couple of pages later, the MC told her love interest all about it. "I said this and then Dicky said that and then I said this..." and the dialogue from the earlier scene was repeated verbatim. Aaaaarrrgh! If anyone wants a good example of when it's better to sum up instead of show, this is it.
 

emax100

Banned
Joined
Apr 26, 2014
Messages
874
Reaction score
80
I'm pretty sure no one has said bod since Dec. 22, 1978 unless they were remarking on a stranger they were sexually attracted to. Definitely doesn't go with father/daughter conversation.

And they high-fived? Hysterical.
This is why there will always be fundamental issue with older writers trying to write about teens from younger generations. When they send out material like this, YAs will inevitably view it the exact same way they would their parents who try and pretend they're "with it" - without realizing nobody says "with it" anymore.
 

emax100

Banned
Joined
Apr 26, 2014
Messages
874
Reaction score
80
I'm reading Stephen King's DUMA KEY. I'm not a big King fan, but the beginning drew me in with the MC suffering a terrible accident and struggling with damage to the language center of his brain.

What's driving me nuts about the book is that it's contemporary, yet the characters speak like they're from the 50's, 70's, or some other random decade.

Examples:

A college boy in his early 20s says: "The cable's hooked up, the computer's Internet-ready—I got you Wi-Fi, costs a little extra, but it's way cool."

First, this doesn't even make sense from a technical standpoint. "Internet-ready" means something is ready to be hooked up to the internet. It's almost never said of a computer, because all modern computers are internet-ready. That's like saying a computer is keyboard-ready. King is showing his age here. He was clearly trying to make this character come across as tech-savvy, and failed.

And second, "way cool?" No one under 30 says that.

Next example: The MC, a man in his 50s, says goodbye to his 19-year-old daughter at the airport: "Go on, hon, better let 'em wand your bod and check your shoes." Seriously? Does anyone on earth say "bod?"

And here's the one that finally made me stop reading for the night: The middle-aged MC and his college boy assistant are discussing an art gallery where the MC would like to show his paintings.

"It's where the elite meet." He spoke solemnly, but when I burst out laughing, he joined me. That was the day, I think, when Jack Cantori became my friend rather than my part-time gofer.

"Then that's settled," I said, "because I am definitely elite. Give it up, son."

I raised my hand, and Jack gave it a smack.


I should think what is painfully wrong with this is painfully obvious. Just, no.
By the way, at some point, if you have not already, check out I Am Charlotte Simmons. That is possibly the quintessential example of someone writing about youth culture today when they have a below minimal understanding of it.
 

Roxxsmom

Beastly Fido
Kind Benefactor
Super Member
Registered
Joined
Oct 24, 2011
Messages
23,083
Reaction score
10,781
Location
Where faults collide
Website
doggedlywriting.blogspot.com
By the way, at some point, if you have not already, check out I Am Charlotte Simmons. That is possibly the quintessential example of someone writing about youth culture today when they have a below minimal understanding of it.

Yet another reason to write secondary world fantasy. I don't have to worry about my hopeless lack of coolness and pop culture smarts (I wasn't even current with youth culture when I was a youth).

I just started reading an older book by a writer I enjoy, but I'm a bit bummed because the first chapter is a one of those prologues that introduce a character that you start to relate to, then bam, he's dead, and you discover the story's really going to be about someone else.
 

AuthorUnknown

Look Closer
Super Member
Registered
Joined
May 9, 2014
Messages
129
Reaction score
20
Location
Far Away
I've just started reading NOS4A2, and I like it so far, but I can't help but imagine poor Joe Hill writing a sentence, then thinking, "Okay, what would dad write now?"

I feel bad for thinking it, but his writing is SO much like King's, I can't help it. Hopefully the further in I get, the less I think it.
 

Caramello Koala

Super Member
Registered
Joined
May 15, 2014
Messages
69
Reaction score
2
Location
Australia
I recently read Hellbound Heart by Clive Barker and found that the characters were way too one-dimensional. I also felt there was zero motive for any of the characters to do what they did and found it difficult to suspend my disbelief. It also felt like three books in one and the protagonist didn't really become the protagonist until towards the end of the book (the same thing happened in Brave New World and that also irked me). All in all I much preferred the movie adaptation, Hellraiser.
 

tpolen

Registered
Joined
Nov 8, 2012
Messages
38
Reaction score
0
Location
KY
Website
www.teripolen.com
I'm trying to get through The Wolf by Lorenzo Carcaterra. It begins with about a 6 page list of characters. The fifty pages after that are primarily backstory. Don't know if I'll make it through this one.
 

Devil Ledbetter

Come on you stranger, you legend,
Kind Benefactor
Super Member
Registered
Joined
Mar 8, 2007
Messages
9,767
Reaction score
3,936
Location
you martyr and shine.
I'm reading Silver Linings Playbook. Oh dear. I'm being pulled (OK, dragged) through by the overarching story question: What the hell is happened to this guy that he used to have a life but now explodes into violence and has the mentality of a 4-year-old?

But I really struggle reading a story from the point of view of an "adult" who thinks, speaks and acts like a pre-schooler. "I do not want to go back to the bad place. When will apart time be over?" *barfs*

Someone tell me I am not going to be disappointed or have a bookwall moment when this is resolved. But no spoilers, please. (ETA: just a "keep reading, trust me" or "pitch this one at the wall and run for your life" will do.)
 
Last edited:

shibby

Super Member
Registered
Joined
Sep 15, 2013
Messages
178
Reaction score
17
Location
UK
My MC's are both too emotional, and they keep asking the same 3 questions! Why did the DR do this? Why did he have to die? Will we ever know why he did this?

*Yawn*

Shibby
 

Brightdreamer

Just Another Lazy Perfectionist
Super Member
Registered
Joined
Apr 22, 2012
Messages
12,977
Reaction score
4,514
Location
USA
Website
brightdreamersbookreviews.blogspot.com
Reading two right now with some irritating qualities.

One, a nonfiction about old-time crafts and lost professions (thatching, stone wall building, charcoal making, etc.) takes an awfully rosy-colored view of history, plus it could use more explanatory images for those of us who didn't grow up in the 19th century or earlier. No, I don't remember going down to the old chairmaker's workshop to watch him work his magic, so I have no idea what you're trying to show with this cluttered and unlabeled image or what it has to do with your lousy explanation of his craft...

The other, a Kindle title with time travel and steampunk elements, just plain doesn't seem to be going anywhere interesting despite the potential, plus I'm terribly afraid that it's going to foist a Cinderella "twist" on me. I'm also finding the characters annoying and obtuse for the most part. But I'm going to finish it at this point anyway; it's a grudge match now.
 

Sunflowerrei

Super Member
Registered
Joined
May 22, 2012
Messages
1,438
Reaction score
86
Location
Queens, New York
Website
www.michelleathy.com
So I'm reading this literary novel with historical fiction elements called The Steady Running of the Hour. I'm 30% in. Like any novel, there are things I like about it and things that are bugging me.

There aren't quotation marks to denote dialogue; instead, the dialogue is marked off by an em-dash. I'm a little confused as to who is speaking sometimes.

The narrative is holding me at a distance. Part of it is first person, other parts are written in third-person, but the story never gets inside the characters' heads and it's bugging me.
 

Jperez6

Super Member
Registered
Joined
Feb 2, 2014
Messages
88
Reaction score
3
Location
Maryland, My Maryland
I finally got my hands on The Work and The Glory, a nine-novel-long series that is famed in my church and has been read by every female member of my mom's family three generations back. I've been looking for it all year, and I finally get started and found a dozen pages of description right off the bat, not to mention some nice cheesy prose. This is gonna be fun.
 

Wilde_at_heart

υπείκωphobe
Super Member
Registered
Joined
Sep 12, 2012
Messages
3,243
Reaction score
514
Location
Southern Ontario
I'm reading a Thriller, so of course I'm expecting a fast pace.

But holy crap this one flits from character to character like a dragonfly with adhd.

The five-page prologue alone has two POV characters (and it switches back to the first with not so much as an extra line break), then the first chapter introduces the MC's sister (who dies, according to the jacket blurb), the next three chapters EACH introduce yet another character (and again a POV switch in the last few paragraphs of one of them) ... skimmed ahead and yet more new POV characters.

Undecided about whether to finish or not. It's a quick read, at least.
 

Marumae

Queen of Quixotica
Super Member
Registered
Joined
Oct 12, 2010
Messages
255
Reaction score
19
Location
Fantasia
Website
www.instagram.com
Two books right now, unless it's something that has my eyes glued I'm always reading three or four books at once. Blame my bibliophile family for that one.

The Hostage Prince by Jane Yolen and Adam Stemple (her son), about a changeling and a seelie prince being held hostage in the enemy Unseelie Court. Shennanigans ensue, they go on the run.

Like every Jane Yolen book I read, while I enjoy her writing she leaves me with wanting something...more I guess. I'm not sure, more detail, more introspection or less introspection I don't know. I love her ideas but there's always something in her writing that makes me yearn for something different. Perhaps she's just one of those writers I don't jazz with, I don't know.