Peg Herring's Blog - Posts Tagged "sad-books"
Sobbing on the Pages
I've never been much for sob stories. Of course, great literature tends to be tragic, and some of those stories are on my list of all-time favorites. I love reading versions of the King Arthur legend, for example, but I know that I'll be sad at the end because that "fleeting wisp of glory" could not sustain itself in the face of Man's corruption.
The best tragedies offer us some kind of hope, but even so, as I've gotten older, I find myself reading fewer books that I know can't end well. I just gave up on both THE TIME TRAVELER'S WIFE and ALICE I HAVE BEEN. It might have been a bad decision, but both books seemed sad on so many levels that I didn't want to read them.
Book buyers today seem to love the oh-my-god-how-tragic thing, but I think it's really hard for the authors of such stories not to descend into the maudlin. And since they tend to make me maudlin as well, I'd just as soon read a good detective novel, where I know that Truth and Justice will triumph in the end.
The best tragedies offer us some kind of hope, but even so, as I've gotten older, I find myself reading fewer books that I know can't end well. I just gave up on both THE TIME TRAVELER'S WIFE and ALICE I HAVE BEEN. It might have been a bad decision, but both books seemed sad on so many levels that I didn't want to read them.
Book buyers today seem to love the oh-my-god-how-tragic thing, but I think it's really hard for the authors of such stories not to descend into the maudlin. And since they tend to make me maudlin as well, I'd just as soon read a good detective novel, where I know that Truth and Justice will triumph in the end.
TME--Too Much Emotion
I just started THE LOVELY BONES, and while the writing is wonderful, I find the subject matter painful. It seems (and I'm only a few chapters in) that the whole book is focused on the pain resulting from a horrible crime. For me, it may be TME--too much emotion.
Laura Lippman has dealt with the effects of tragedy on a family, and I loved it. Other writers touch on it. Most recently I read William Kent Kruger's HEAVEN'S KEEP and loved how he handled Cork and his family's struggle with not knowing how great their tragedy would eventually be. So I'm not sure why THE LOVELY BONES started whispering to me last night as I read that I won't like where it's going, won't, as a friend of mine puts her philosophy of reading, be a better person for having read it.
Oh, I'll finish it. As I said, the writing is excellent. But it may be one of those books I wish I'd never picked up. The world is too much with us, and for me, these days, literature has to be an escape from TME. Exploring the raw holes tragedy pokes into a person or a family seems not only painful, but counterproductive. I'll let you know if I find that I am wrong.
Laura Lippman has dealt with the effects of tragedy on a family, and I loved it. Other writers touch on it. Most recently I read William Kent Kruger's HEAVEN'S KEEP and loved how he handled Cork and his family's struggle with not knowing how great their tragedy would eventually be. So I'm not sure why THE LOVELY BONES started whispering to me last night as I read that I won't like where it's going, won't, as a friend of mine puts her philosophy of reading, be a better person for having read it.
Oh, I'll finish it. As I said, the writing is excellent. But it may be one of those books I wish I'd never picked up. The world is too much with us, and for me, these days, literature has to be an escape from TME. Exploring the raw holes tragedy pokes into a person or a family seems not only painful, but counterproductive. I'll let you know if I find that I am wrong.
