rambling: The Kite Runner (thanks, Mom!)
I read The Kite Runner in three days.
Literature can get away with things science fiction and fantasy can't. tKR was at least as formulaic in its way as a sword and sorcery novel; compare its plot with Atonement if you doubt it. Not to mention tKR lacks subtlety - reading it, we are treated to rape, child abuse, Hitler, hard drugs, and suicide. The protagonist, Amir, is a novelist and we watch his early development as a writer. It's more peripheral than in Atonement, so I'll give Khaled Hosseini that, but it still reads as much too personal. Tacked onto that are the hospital scenes where Amir finds religion: Hosseini is a medical doctor.
Now, I know what you're thinking. Dice, you can't write; who are you to criticize? What basis do you have to judge? Yeah, I hear you. I think at least part of the problem are the perfectly wonderful books I've read, compared to which a first novel is as awkward as a first step.
That's not to say I didn't enjoy the book; if it weren't gripping I wouldn't have carried it around with me all weekend like a security blanket. I liked it; didn't love Amir, although I wanted to punch him a few times, didn't even love Hassan, perfectly nice and loyal. I was dying to know exactly what came next, other than the pattern of sin, guilt, and redemption. So, really, I'm not complaining, just noticing, the way I noticed the difference between fiction and non-fiction: I'm used to having control over my fiction, a sense of ownership. If I don't like how something goes, I'll just rewrite the ending. There's less control with non-fiction, more certainty: something is either a fact or it isn't. You can argue with it. With fiction, you can only argue how good it is, how well-written, how realistic and realised the characters are. That could be why I'm having trouble sitting back and just enjoying a piece of fiction. I like to argue, like to have a sense of ownership in the story. I don't think it's worse, I just wish I were better at compartmentalising.
x - posted
Literature can get away with things science fiction and fantasy can't. tKR was at least as formulaic in its way as a sword and sorcery novel; compare its plot with Atonement if you doubt it. Not to mention tKR lacks subtlety - reading it, we are treated to rape, child abuse, Hitler, hard drugs, and suicide. The protagonist, Amir, is a novelist and we watch his early development as a writer. It's more peripheral than in Atonement, so I'll give Khaled Hosseini that, but it still reads as much too personal. Tacked onto that are the hospital scenes where Amir finds religion: Hosseini is a medical doctor.
Now, I know what you're thinking. Dice, you can't write; who are you to criticize? What basis do you have to judge? Yeah, I hear you. I think at least part of the problem are the perfectly wonderful books I've read, compared to which a first novel is as awkward as a first step.
That's not to say I didn't enjoy the book; if it weren't gripping I wouldn't have carried it around with me all weekend like a security blanket. I liked it; didn't love Amir, although I wanted to punch him a few times, didn't even love Hassan, perfectly nice and loyal. I was dying to know exactly what came next, other than the pattern of sin, guilt, and redemption. So, really, I'm not complaining, just noticing, the way I noticed the difference between fiction and non-fiction: I'm used to having control over my fiction, a sense of ownership. If I don't like how something goes, I'll just rewrite the ending. There's less control with non-fiction, more certainty: something is either a fact or it isn't. You can argue with it. With fiction, you can only argue how good it is, how well-written, how realistic and realised the characters are. That could be why I'm having trouble sitting back and just enjoying a piece of fiction. I like to argue, like to have a sense of ownership in the story. I don't think it's worse, I just wish I were better at compartmentalising.
x - posted
posted by Dice at 6:04 p.m.
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