Just finished SOUTH OF BROAD by Pat Conroy. I did read through to the end, but it was a struggle. He throws in integration, child/spousal abuse, priest pedophiles, AIDS, orphans, Appalachian hillbillies, Charleston old families, Hurricane Hugo...
You get the idea. It's a long book with not a lot of plot. Which is okay for literary fiction, I guess. But I fear he's turned out like a lot of other good writers who become wordy without a good editor to calm them down. Maybe it's because their books sell so well that the pubs don't care; maybe it's a lack of enough editors to go around. I don't know. But I've noticed this in the works of several other writers including a couple of well-known mystery writers,
So I'm looking for something light to read. I have a historical romance I'm about ready to jump on.
Showing posts with label plot. Show all posts
Showing posts with label plot. Show all posts
Tuesday, November 2, 2010
Wednesday, July 21, 2010
ELIN HILDERBRAND
I think it was Laura???? who said she enjoyed this author so I got SUMMER PEOPLE and read it this past weekend.
While I like women's fiction okay, I prefer something that has a tight plot. This story was more of a woman trying to find herself, detailing her family's travails along the way, and wasn't terribly interesting to me. Others will probably love it.
But I think there were two reasons the book didn't work for me. The story about a family's grief for a dead husband and father, was too realistic; I read fiction to escape real life, not depress myself further. And the writer in me kept noticing craft details like changes of POV all over the place that had me rereading whole paragraphs to figure out why they seemed disjointed.
Overall, it was a nice enough story but not one I'd read again.
And you can't ever tell what other books by the same author are like. I didn't like Nora Roberts for years because so many of her books read like standard romances. Then I read one that seemed like another person had written it because the voice stood out so sharply. In all, there were 3-4 in this voice and I liked them.
So my taste depends a lot on the voice. But I still want an interesting plot, too. I guess that's why I'm into mysteries so much right now. Some of them have great voices and intriguing plots.
Anybody else have a book or author they want to recommend?
While I like women's fiction okay, I prefer something that has a tight plot. This story was more of a woman trying to find herself, detailing her family's travails along the way, and wasn't terribly interesting to me. Others will probably love it.
But I think there were two reasons the book didn't work for me. The story about a family's grief for a dead husband and father, was too realistic; I read fiction to escape real life, not depress myself further. And the writer in me kept noticing craft details like changes of POV all over the place that had me rereading whole paragraphs to figure out why they seemed disjointed.
Overall, it was a nice enough story but not one I'd read again.
And you can't ever tell what other books by the same author are like. I didn't like Nora Roberts for years because so many of her books read like standard romances. Then I read one that seemed like another person had written it because the voice stood out so sharply. In all, there were 3-4 in this voice and I liked them.
So my taste depends a lot on the voice. But I still want an interesting plot, too. I guess that's why I'm into mysteries so much right now. Some of them have great voices and intriguing plots.
Anybody else have a book or author they want to recommend?
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