And how is it different from a good story?
I finished Wish You Well. I said it was cheesy - it was. It had a somewhat compelling story though. And I wanted to find out how it ended.
But it really wasn't well-written. I've read better stuff in Good Housekeeping - and not even their giant fiction issue. And the "willing suspension of disbelief" had to work overtime to make it work.
(Dad is killed in a car accident. Mom is in a coma - but she can eat and drink and doesn't seem to get bed sores. And Mom and kids go to Virginia to live in the Appalachian mountains with Great Grandma. And the evil gas company illicitly mines for natural gas on Granny's property. And "Diamond Skinner - a plucky young lad who lives on his own and is always there to rescue Lou and her little brother Oz - is blown up when he runs into the mine - not knowing about the illicit activities of Southern Virginia Gas and Power. And the evil neighbor - who put the gas company onto the mine on Granny's property - burns down their barn - in the dead of winter. And then Granny has a stroke - and the gas company goes to court to get her declared mentally incompetent so they can get her land - that she earlier refused to sell to them - and the evil neighbor is on the jury - and the jury finds in favor of Southern Virginia - and you guessed it - Mom rises up from her bed of affliction and walks into the courtroom.)
I'm telling you the plot because you don't need to bother to read it.
I don't think that's what Eliot had in mind when he explained the concept of "willing suspension."
At least it was easy to skim.
I want to read Home - is it as good as the Times review said it was?
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3 comments:
I am still reading Home. So far, it is interesting, and written in a very straightforward style. It's almost like she is talking and someone's writing it all down as she speaks. So not especially "literary," but the stories are compelling. I will have to give a complete review when I finish it.
I put Atonement on hold at the library--I think it will take forever to become available though. Bestsellers are really hard to come by sometimes at our library.
I'm also reading In the Time of the Butterflies by Julia Alvarez--not very far into it though. So far I like it.
You can take my copy of Atonement when you come.
It's great.
I just read Saint Maybe by Anne Tyler. For a "popular" writer she is not only readable, but I think she writes well.
Also read Bound by Donna Jo Napoli - it's an adolescent novel, but it was Chinese version of the Cinderella story and so it's quite compelling - why do we love the Cinderella story so much??
I loved In the Time of the Butterflies.
What did you think?
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