Something Borrowed
At some point I was going to write a post about how I can't seem to make myself read fiction anymore. Still, on our vacation I did read five books, all of them fiction. None of them what one would consider "great literature," but it wasn't the reason I picked them, either. I wanted some light reading, and light reading was what I got, although they all left me puzzled in the end: has the quality of writing gone down? Am I missing something? Why do they read like a first draft that needs some major improvement, not like what I'd expect from a finished product.
For example, the first one was "Something Borrowed" by Emily Giffin.
As you can see by the cover, it's unabashedly chick lit. Here's a plot (for those who don't like spoilers, don't read it, although then be careful to not read the Amazon reviews, either, since they give it out, too), or what's of it there is: a girl gets drunk and falls into bed with her best friend's fiance. The girl and the fiance realize they are in love. They fail to inform the girl's best friend of it for most of the novel. The novel meanders back and force between the present-day events and what happened during the friends' childhood and throughout their friendship, illuminating various aspects of their relationship. At times it seems a bit too winded, especially when it describes the goings-on between the girl and her lover. Yes, she feels guilty, but not so much to stop what they are doing, and yes, he feels mostly elated, and maybe a bit guilty, although he keeps insisting he isn't regretting any of it. We got the point. Why do we need pages and pages without any character development?
Still, that's not what puzzled me. The review states that "It's a gamble to cast her heroine in a potentially unsympathetic light, but Giffin manages to create empathy for her likable characters without cheapening the complexity of their situation, making for a genuinely winning tale."
I'm not sure what would be "cheapening the complexity of their situation" if not what happens at the end of the book. Because, you see, it turns out that the best friend is herself a cheater, and is cheating on her fiance' with his best friend (who also is supposedly someone the other girl likes, although she makes it up as a cover story); not only is this friend cheating, she's also pregnant! Voila, there goes the moral dilemma. You felt guilty about sleeping with your best friend's fiance? No need to feel conflicted any more -- she was even worse off morally! You had issues with how the break-up would go, less than a week before the wedding? No problem, it was the simplest break-up ever, with her agreeing to it readily.
Where's the moral dilemma, I ask you? Where's that "not cheapening the complexity"? And where's the ending to the story, while we are at it? I understand that some writers don't like to overdo the happy ending, but give me some ending, please. Speaking of which, there are a few characters that are mentioned throughout the story, and a theme or two that gets a lot of page-time (for example, girl's job, with which she's perpetually unhappy and keeps talking about quitting) that go absolutely nowhere. If I was the editor, I'd say "great first draft, but it needs work."
For example, the first one was "Something Borrowed" by Emily Giffin.
As you can see by the cover, it's unabashedly chick lit. Here's a plot (for those who don't like spoilers, don't read it, although then be careful to not read the Amazon reviews, either, since they give it out, too), or what's of it there is: a girl gets drunk and falls into bed with her best friend's fiance. The girl and the fiance realize they are in love. They fail to inform the girl's best friend of it for most of the novel. The novel meanders back and force between the present-day events and what happened during the friends' childhood and throughout their friendship, illuminating various aspects of their relationship. At times it seems a bit too winded, especially when it describes the goings-on between the girl and her lover. Yes, she feels guilty, but not so much to stop what they are doing, and yes, he feels mostly elated, and maybe a bit guilty, although he keeps insisting he isn't regretting any of it. We got the point. Why do we need pages and pages without any character development?
Still, that's not what puzzled me. The review states that "It's a gamble to cast her heroine in a potentially unsympathetic light, but Giffin manages to create empathy for her likable characters without cheapening the complexity of their situation, making for a genuinely winning tale."
I'm not sure what would be "cheapening the complexity of their situation" if not what happens at the end of the book. Because, you see, it turns out that the best friend is herself a cheater, and is cheating on her fiance' with his best friend (who also is supposedly someone the other girl likes, although she makes it up as a cover story); not only is this friend cheating, she's also pregnant! Voila, there goes the moral dilemma. You felt guilty about sleeping with your best friend's fiance? No need to feel conflicted any more -- she was even worse off morally! You had issues with how the break-up would go, less than a week before the wedding? No problem, it was the simplest break-up ever, with her agreeing to it readily.
Where's the moral dilemma, I ask you? Where's that "not cheapening the complexity"? And where's the ending to the story, while we are at it? I understand that some writers don't like to overdo the happy ending, but give me some ending, please. Speaking of which, there are a few characters that are mentioned throughout the story, and a theme or two that gets a lot of page-time (for example, girl's job, with which she's perpetually unhappy and keeps talking about quitting) that go absolutely nowhere. If I was the editor, I'd say "great first draft, but it needs work."