Books: Swann, Monoceros, maybe The Way the Crow Flies
After I finished reading The Diviners, I picked up The Way the Crow Flies by Ann-Marie Macdonald from the library. I had previously read and loved Fall on Your Knees, and I hadn't read any big, sprawling fiction in a while. However, I struggled with Crow; it just wasn't going anywhere. It sets up the characters and lays the groundwork for the tensions and conflicts, but the experience of reading it is like pulling a rubber band that never snaps. I was 200 pages into the novel, and I read the teaser for it on the library's website, and the teaser contained plot elements that hadn't developed in the book yet. I haven't finished it yet - I'm at page 374 of just over 700 - and I don't know if I can, for two reasons. First, since the book is from the library, I've renewed it twice (which is the maximum amount of renewals). Second, Macdonald has since released a new book, Adult Onset, which means her other books are in demand, so there won't be another copy available of Crow right away.
I was so frustrated I started reading other books, which I normally don't like to do, particularly if I'm reading two works of fiction at once. Swann by Carol Shields was a recent purchase. (I also own her Larry's Party, and I've read Unless and The Stone Diaries from the library. I haven't re-read Party though, which I maybe should.) I couldn't put this one down. I guess I always enjoy scholars and academics featuring prominently in the cast. I also enjoyed how it juggled different characters' points of view. In contrast to a Game of Thrones or Poisonwood Bible, each POV character gets one continuous section, and there's a concluding final section that's presented as a screenplay. It's a bold, impressive choice, and it just emphasizes how Shields moves so well writing different genres in one work.
The other book I read during this time was Monoceros by Suzette Mayr, a Calgary-based author. I saw this book at the Word on the Street festival this year, and I decided to make a note of it. (Nowadays, I don't like buying books from authors I don't know from previous works, so I didn't buy it then.) The catalyst for the novel is a gay teen's suicide, and the chapters are all from the perspectives of different people connected to him or his high school. I feel like our modern critical ethos emphasizes character more than plot - I can't believe how many times I've read articles talking about the importance of relatable, believable characters. I don't agree with that evaluation, and this novel was more about characters than about plot, which ended up being the problem for me. Some great scenes and moments are in the book, but in terms of being an interesting story, I wasn't sure what kind of story it was telling other than just "This is what happened to these people". I don't think every book needs a hero's journey, but I don't believe lives are inherently worth being literature just because they're lives. If this novel was supposed to be a novel about grief, it undercuts the process by having too many characters, so ultimately we don't get to know any particular narrative that well. On the stylistic front, the writer eschews quotation marks, instead using a dash and a new paragraph to indicate dialogue. I hate that affectation. I blame that damn Cold Mountain.
Still, I flew through Monoceros, so it has that going for it, whereas Crow still drags. I have ten days to see if I can make that big push to its finish line - or maybe I'll start another book.
I was so frustrated I started reading other books, which I normally don't like to do, particularly if I'm reading two works of fiction at once. Swann by Carol Shields was a recent purchase. (I also own her Larry's Party, and I've read Unless and The Stone Diaries from the library. I haven't re-read Party though, which I maybe should.) I couldn't put this one down. I guess I always enjoy scholars and academics featuring prominently in the cast. I also enjoyed how it juggled different characters' points of view. In contrast to a Game of Thrones or Poisonwood Bible, each POV character gets one continuous section, and there's a concluding final section that's presented as a screenplay. It's a bold, impressive choice, and it just emphasizes how Shields moves so well writing different genres in one work.
The other book I read during this time was Monoceros by Suzette Mayr, a Calgary-based author. I saw this book at the Word on the Street festival this year, and I decided to make a note of it. (Nowadays, I don't like buying books from authors I don't know from previous works, so I didn't buy it then.) The catalyst for the novel is a gay teen's suicide, and the chapters are all from the perspectives of different people connected to him or his high school. I feel like our modern critical ethos emphasizes character more than plot - I can't believe how many times I've read articles talking about the importance of relatable, believable characters. I don't agree with that evaluation, and this novel was more about characters than about plot, which ended up being the problem for me. Some great scenes and moments are in the book, but in terms of being an interesting story, I wasn't sure what kind of story it was telling other than just "This is what happened to these people". I don't think every book needs a hero's journey, but I don't believe lives are inherently worth being literature just because they're lives. If this novel was supposed to be a novel about grief, it undercuts the process by having too many characters, so ultimately we don't get to know any particular narrative that well. On the stylistic front, the writer eschews quotation marks, instead using a dash and a new paragraph to indicate dialogue. I hate that affectation. I blame that damn Cold Mountain.
Still, I flew through Monoceros, so it has that going for it, whereas Crow still drags. I have ten days to see if I can make that big push to its finish line - or maybe I'll start another book.