It's Not You, It's Me: When a Book Isn't Doing it for Ya

 

The most useless recommendation of any book is the old reliable "You should read it! It's so good!" To what is "good" referring here? The sophistication of the prose? The author's deft hand at subtle metaphors? The expert grammar and punctuation? Vivid and lifelike characterization? I would argue that "good" usually refers to a reader's enjoyment of the book, rather than any technical aspects of the writing, and enjoyment is wholly subjective and not at all possible to quantify. Not only is enjoyment a personal sensation, attributed to taste, sense of humor, life experiences, etc., but it can also be affected by transitory measures: a reader's current mood or mindset; a sense of community with other readers thanks to a book's popularity; trends and fashions within the industry; the correlation between a book and another popular piece of media. Sometimes the right book strikes us at the right time and earns a spot on the favorites shelf; sometimes the book holds that spot forever after, but sometimes a reread knocks it down. 

In my quest to whittle down my tbr, I started a book this week that's been on it for a while. A trad pub book from an author whose books I've enjoyed before. I won't name it, because I don't do unfavorable reviews, but more than fifty percent through it, and feeling let down, I was inspired to talk about that particular sentiment. 

It's happened to all of us: we start a book that we should enjoy: right genre, right synopsis, even the right author, one whose voice we've connected with in the past. But once we get in between the pages, we find ourselves underwhelmed. Even irritated, at moments. I'm going to finish the book, because the author's writing is still top notch, but I don't think it would be fair to write a lukewarm recommendation for it simply because I'm struggling to connect with the main character. That's why I'm not enjoying it as much as I'd hoped: the character's voice. 

It happens! In crafting this character, the author made her feel very real. That takes undeniable skill, but, in this case, it's made the character someone who I wouldn't want to spend any time with in real life. I've read books about reprehensible characters I quite enjoyed, and this character isn't even reprehensible! I'm just not "feeling it" with her. She's not dastardly, merely annoying: like rubbing a cat's hair the wrong way. 

I've seen readers write several-thousand-word, scathing reviews about characters who annoyed them in this way, and their assertions that a book was "bad," or that the author was "stupid" or "unskilled" are ridiculous. For instance: Aidan is immature, yes; that's who he is. That doesn't mean the book is "bad." Writing can be poor: when an author doesn't understand punctuation or uses improper grammar. Sloppy sentence structure, repetition, unclear meaning, or a failure to follow through on a story's setup are all signs of weak writing that reduce a book's quality. But there's always a risk that a well-drawn character, one written with keen human insight, will annoy or repel readers. This isn't a sign of poor writing: rather, it's a sign that the author has been so successful in executing her vision that audience reactions are as varied and passionate as the reactions to real-life situations.

In the case of this book, it really is a case of me not gelling with the character. It's me, not her. All that I can do is hope I enjoy my next read better and move on. And give props to the author: if she wasn't so good at this, I wouldn't feel any sort of way about the book.