Ahoy, mates. The time has come to discuss what I’ve been reading for the start of this summer. It’s a doozy. Ok, not actually, but I had to read a hundred pages to figure out how I felt about it – I’m gonna call it – not a good sign. It’s The Secret of Lost Things by Sheridan Hay. She’s an Australian and has lived in New York, which give credence to this tale about an 18-year old Tasmanian who is thrust alone into the Big Apple itself and finds an enormous, maze-like bookstore to work in. Oh, and within the first chapter or so, her mom dies. (She had only been raised by her mother, because her father – I believe – impregnated her and jetted.) Anyway, in Tazzie she lived with her mother’s only friend a bookstore owner… blah blah and Rosemary is randomly shipped off to New York.
This is my first problem: why in the hell does she have to go so freaking far away? A story in Sydney would have been just as interesting, right? Whatever, she is utterly alone in the big city, which is fine with her because the anonymity is preferable to the small-town nosiness she experienced in Tasmania. Ok, but you’re literally a world away from everything and everyone you know. The molten core of the earth separates you. And she’s is ok with this probably permanent arrangement? WHY?
Second problem: she had no friends there. NONE. No kid her own age was even mentioned. Huh? She went to school, but her mom ‘discouraged’ her from making friends. (WHAT?) Because they would be curious about where the hell her father is and might think her mom is a whore or whatever. So no friends? That’s the best remedy for this? Stellar parenting, really.
Third, not really problem, but weird thing: she carries around her dead mom’s ashes. Like took them to New York in a box, and continues to talk to them whenever she’s in her room. I’m all for talking to dead parents, like at their graves and instead of praying or something, but actually TALKING, carrying on a conversation because you’re alone in NYC and don’t have friends… this is sad.
Ok, four: she is totes hot for this guy at the bookstore, who was described attractively (like he sounds boink-able to me, I mean, I know I’d be thinking about it, but that’s me… as you all know) But she reserves him as unattainable and throws all her desires his way, so that she doesn’t act on any of them. She’s a little guy-shy anyway, oh and this guy, Oscar, is a super douche and creepy. (Not as creepy as the albino that works there too, and has the hots for her… ahhhh) Back to my point, she even observes, Oscar could be vicious and cannot connect to people properly. Quite the excellent crush, huh? Anyway, her pining is obnoxious.
Five: her character might be obnoxious too. Again, I can’t really decide yet. It took me awhile to firm up my opinions on the book itself: it’s ok, nothing fantastic, but not crap. Perhaps on par with my writing ability.
Six: tense. I have nothing against past tense, especially in a novel, but in this book its getting to me. I think time in general is not properly managed on a writing (words, as in quite basic) level. It starts with, “This story begins before I was born…” which isn’t terribly offensive, just set up in a weird time to me. She is remembering these things, but I’m not sure what point she’s remembering them from. Distant future, when she’s old? Sometime within the scope of the book? That aside, some passage I read recently slipped into present tense. What the hell? It was general and some sort of summary of life and happenstance or whatever, not action, which would have been a grievous mistake, but still. Also, the passage was unnecessary in general. Summaries about (the author’s?) beliefs or realizations about fate and shit are boring. Show me. Make me believe it.
Seven: (I’m sorry this is so long, but I guess it’s better than devoting the time to reading the whole thing…) Show don’t tell. I feel like there’s a lot of telling. And I know some telling is necessary, maybe balance show and tell would have been a better phrase for the writing workshops to pound into my head… but I noticed there was a lot of telling in the first few chapters (which I found acceptable at the beginning of a novel) but it has stayed within the story as I go along. Kind of annoying.
Good things: (By now you might be wondering if there are any, and there are, faithful reader!) Pearl, a pre-op trani – so lovely, but not enough of her as far as I’ve read. Herman Melville (I guess, he’s mentioned a lot and I feel like he will become more important since some manuscript of his is supposed to pop up and create drama –said back cover) because I have actually read some of him. The bookstore – it’s a monster, and FULL of books! Lillian – the spicy South American who sits at the counter where Rosemary lives, their interchanges are always interesting. Hmmm, that’s shorter than I expected.
Well, there ya are. I’ve got 250 more pages, I’ll see if I change my mind on any accounts.
By all accounts this sounds like a somewhat frustrating book, but I'm glad you're reading. I'm struggling to make it through the third Harry Potter Book again. Sad, but moving on.
ReplyDeleteIn regards to point #6 (tense), this reminds me of something we talked about in one of my fiction writing classes. It's called point of telling, and it basically establishes how close the narration is to when the story happened.
Something I've often wondered about in my writing, is it possible to start with one point of telling and then go to another? For example, in Titantic the point of telling is from many years in the future, but the transition seems pretty soon.
Obviously that's cinema and not fiction which makes it totally different, but is there a way to have a smooth transition between two points of telling? I'd love to hear all your thoughts.
From what I remember, Titanic had only one point of telling right? The old Rose telling the story in flashback. Or am I misunderstanding?
ReplyDeleteI think the problem with this book is that it all seems like a flashback, but there's no reference for when the 'present' is.
To answer your question, the point of telling can change within a story. The most prominent in my mind is when the story starts as being told as it happened in the past, then the narration catches up to the present and tense moves with it.
To give a tv example: when a show begins with (usually a weird or terrible or surprising) circumstance in the present then goes to the past, which leads up to that moment. Such shows have been in Firefly, Modern Family, and Alias, and more that I can't recall with clarity now.
-- Also, the 3rd Harry Potter? Are you trying to recreate Gill's experience? Or have you already zoomed through the first two?
Apparently, no literature is publishable unless you've got a boinkable hot stud in the storyline, somewhere. Note to self. Just kidding. Ish.
ReplyDeleteI'm glad you posted this--it helps me to keep in mind what I probably shouldn't do (or do better) in my own fiction. Reviews are such a handy thing.
You know, I haven't read Harry Potter in a long time. My favorite book was the third one, so now I"m afraid to reread it again!!