Book Stuff

[amberfocus]

As much as I am enjoying the book Linger by Maggie Stiefvater, the sequel to Shiver, I am now really annoyed with the POV shifting.  In the first book she wrote in first person, with each chapter from the POV of one of two people, which was okay.  I could set my mind to who was telling the story for that chapter and get on with it.  Not my favorite thing, but it's worked in certain books I've read.  In Linger she's shifting between the first person points of view of four people, but instead of doing it all within one chapter, it can shift viewpoints three or four times per chapter.  If she was going to do that, she should have just written in third person.  It is too easy to lose track of who is telling the story this way.  I keep having to flip back a page or two to see the label of the section to recall who is telling the story at whichever point I'm at.  It's frustrating and makes me lose story flow.  Her editor should not have let her get away with this, previous best seller or not.

Comments

[irishlullaby.livejournal.com]

Which is why I seldom read first person narratives........

[amberfocus.livejournal.com]

I don't mind them if it's just one person telling the story, but it definitely limits stuff.

BTW, thanks for the linky to the macro thingy. Someone was looking for it on dw_ficsearch and I was sure it was yours, but I'd been all over your creative journal and not seen it, since it was from before you made the creative journal.

[irishlullaby.livejournal.com]

Welcome, more than happy to help :D


Actually it kinda reminded me that I need to finish the story...

[opalgirl28.livejournal.com]

Lurker normally here for the fic, chiming in to say: ...wait. They let you get away with that in published fiction now?

Fanficcers get chewed out for that (and for good reason).

I wouldn't mind if the POV shifted from chapter to chapter, but hopping through four POVs in one chapter? It's just sloppy and confusing, and if the story needs to be told that way, it should've been written in third.

[stillbrainfried.livejournal.com]

And I always thought the entire point of first person narrating was that it was told from a single point of view!?! Stupid me...

[yavie-namarie.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I read a book this summer where I had to keep doing that. I don't know if you've ever heard of Love Walked In by Maria de los Santos, but she keeps switching from first person present and past tense, to third person past tense. It was incredibly confusing for awhile, until I finally got used to it and could figure out who the heck the chapter was about.

[ramblinsuze.livejournal.com]

Oh man, I read a book like that this summer and it drove me CRAZY. And this was even worse because there was nothing to indicate that suddenly we had a new narrator. I'd be reading along and then was all...wait, this doesn't make any sense! And I'd have to go back and try to suss out who we were dealing with. Horrible. Any good editor should have put the kibosh on that right away.

[jellybean728.livejournal.com]

It's hearing things like this that allow me to continue fantasizing that some day when I get brave enough to submit something, I could get published.

I've read enough bad stuff to know what NOT to do at least.

[flapamingo.livejournal.com]

Just 2 minutes ago I finished Shiver after reading your recommendation. :-) I really liked it and I'll probably pick up Linger at the store tomorrow. Thanks for the warning though.

[maniacalshen.livejournal.com]

I'm actually in the middle of that book. :D Totally your fault for recommending Shiver, by the way.

I think my favorite part so far was when Cole met Isabel. I about died laughing.

This book is certainly less focused than Shiver, but I have to say that I'm still enjoying it. Simple, guilty pleasure that it is.

[rosewarren.livejournal.com]

I just finished Shiver yesterday and I loved it! A friend had recced it ages ago, and when I saw your rec I requested it form the local library. I loved the way the POV went from Grace to Sam, but Linger sounds a bit confusing. But i am still very, very anxious to read it. :)

[amberfocus.livejournal.com]

Oh, Linger is good. It's definitley worth reading, just...I wish she could have focused the chapters into one person at a time like she did in Shiver. Wasn't Shiver just so good?