This has been a week of decision making. Yesterday, I avoided deciding which of two directions I would choose to go with a book review by turning lunch into a six-hour affair that started with wine and ended with french fries. While I continue to put off actually writing that review, I did finally come to a decision on whether or not to review Swimming Inside the Sun by David Zwieg.
Part of my decision involved the fact that Stacked had been contacted and sent a copy of the book to review. Unable to finish it, was it fair to state an opinion for the masses? As evident by this post, the answer ended up being, “yes.”
While contrary to my actual behaviors, closing an uninteresting book is just as important as the act of reading. By allowing ourselves to close the covers–pages unread–we free up time and mental space for other things that do appeal to us.
Again and again book bloggers–mostly women–make apologies for not liking various books. They state that maybe it just wasn’t their thing or maybe other factors in their life were influencing their mood and opinion. It’s the nice way of saying “it’s a piece of crap” without having to worry about having their statements challenged. After reading adulatory praises on Amazon , I too slipped into those passive phrase–maybe I just didn’t get it because other people seem to love it:
“The novel is so well written…It is such a pleasure to read a book that made me feel so much.” –HeyBrooklyn.com
“Swimming Inside the Sun completely blew me away. A funny, cerebral, intense read.”
“The author’s facility with words, especially for a first time author, is little short of astounding. And while this book is definitely cerebral (really cerebral) it’s really poetic too.”
What am I missing? The first few pages are a form of introduction that is a showcase of every example a creative writing teacher tells beginner students not to do. On the first page alone, Zweig uses “I” twenty-three times, repeatedly starting sentences with the word until it reads like a terrible essay on What I Did On My Summer Vacation. There are other ways to show self-involvement and narcissism.
Meanwhile the internal dialogue is terrible. In the Beatles movie, Help!, one of the characters describes each and every move he makes, “I am now lighting the match. I am now lighting the fuse. I am now closing the lid. I am now picking up the bomb,” until his partner in crime yells at him to shut up. That is the introduction. “I am now picking up the Post-it notes. I am now unwrapping the Post-it notes. I am now crinkling the wrapper. I am now writing on the Post-it notes.”
Sadly, the writing doesn’t improve. The things that interested me to start–a deterioration from first to third person, the mental degradation that develops as a result of rejection and depression–are all for nothing because I can’t bring myself to pick up the book again in order to get past those first thirty pages.
It would have been easy to ignore the book and never write a review, or to issue a blanket statement phrase about it not being a genre or style I’m comfortable with. Deciding to write a review based on a small number of pages was difficult but necessary–sometimes when we don’t like a book, it’s not because we’re wrong, but because press quotes and statements are a reflection of branding and the guilt to write nice and friendly community building reviews. This kind of attitude doesn’t help because it encourages readers to purchase books they would not have had they been reading honest reviews. It doesn’t encourage authors to grow and improve their writing and it encourages publishers to continue putting out books of a similar ilk.
So what makes it okay for me to write a negative review without finishing the book? If an author cannot showcase the talent of his writing in the opening pages, and cannot convince the reader to continue, then the book should not have been published. A talented editor would have picked up on the problems with the opening text and either not published it or have required a rewrite.
Swimming Inside the Sun never gets to be cerebral or intelligent because the juvenile writing obscures anything good that might have come in subsequent pages. And it’s not me just not getting it or the book not being my thing–media outlets (blogs included) write nice or neutral reviews for the sake of a relationship and a handful of nothing but five-star reviews on Amazon naturally assume the calling in of favors from friends. Instead of looking into the mind a of the narrator, all we see is the author attempting to show off and brag about what a cool hipster he is. If you have to tell people you are intelligent, or funny, or attractive–or a hipster–then you’re not.
Side note: The cover should have been a dead giveaway not to bother. Lens flare effect and nothing else? Really? Why not just write the cover font in Comic Sans?
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{ 5 comments… read them below or add one }
Well, that is a relief! I always feel guilty when I cannot get past the first few pages of a book. I have forced myself to read a few books that I was not too fond of, but when it was not pleasurable, what was the point? As a teacher, I am obligated to read quite a few books necessary for my profession, some enjoyable and some just required. But when it comes to reading for enjoyment, why should I read shlock? I have often referred to the reviews written on the book assuming they are reliable, but you have clearly indicated they may not be so reliable. Interestingly, a former classmate from high school has asked everyone she knows to write a review for her (informational) book. I read the online copy she sent, and I just could not do it, not even just to be nice.
If I’m not enjoying a book in the first chapter, I’m outta there. I think reviewers really need to give an honest opinion. I could never understand why Oprah books got such rave reviews…After trying to read a few and not enjoying them – I’ve stopped picking up her books.
That’s my girl – got to love the Beatles reference. I’ve mimicked that guy for over 40 years! “I am now placing the rocket engine into the retention clip. I am now inserting the ignitor into the rocket engine nozzle..”
Very good. Well said. Thank you.
(and I’m of no relation that I am aware of…)
.-= Care´s last blog ..Care for Bloggiesta =-.
Christina,
Thanks for devoting whatever time you did toward my book. Since you were hating it I certainly don’t fault you for putting it down rather than continuing with it. I quit books all the time that I don’t like. Nor do I fault you for choosing to blog about your thoughts on the portion you read. Where I do fault you, however, is your insinuation that the positive reviews of the book were a “reflection of branding and the guilt to write nice and friendly community building reviews” and that “media outlets (blogs included)” wrote positive reviews for “the sake of a relationship” and that the Amazon reviews were all from friends. What irony that you complain of the narcissism of the book’s narrator! It’s hard to think of a more narcissistic viewpoint than your assumption that anyone who writes positively about a book that you didn’t like must have just been doing the author a favor. You’re essentially calling everyone who wrote a positive review of my book a liar and a phony. Your claim might have some merit if my book was published by one of the big houses and was the latest product of the corporate hype machine with raves in the Times and every other mainstream outlet. Those reviewers get paid good money, those magazines and papers do have relationships that they might not want to damage, and it seems they often do jump on a bandwagon. But it strains credibility to claim that bloggers, who generally make no money from their sites, who write reviews solely because they’re passionate about books, wrote fake reviews to maintain a relationship with a tiny, unknown publisher, and an unknown writer. Believe me, I’m all too aware of how little clout I or my publisher have to influence anyone, let alone garner a review at all. More than insulting me, your review insults anyone else who dares have a different opinion than yours.
P.S. It’s just plain wrong – grammatically and ethically – to put quotes around text that is your own and not taken from a book you are reviewing.
David Zweig