Where is the story?

It’s the first Wednesday of the month again, time for a post for the Insecure Writer’s Support Group.

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Recently I read a novella, Becky Chambers’s A Prayer for the Crown-Shy. I actively disliked it. It has many glowing reviews on GoodReads, but it didn’t work for me. I decided to figure out why.

The narrative is superb, clean and lyrical, flowing like a quiet melody. The two protagonists are fascinating, definitely 3-dimentional. The details are rich and diverse. But the story – the most important aspect of any work of fiction – the STORY just isn’t there.    

To explain my reaction to this book, I need to tell you what it is about. The book summary sounds like an anecdote: a monk and a robot travel around the countryside while searching for the meaning of life. They can’t find any, because frankly, their lives have no meanings. They have no responsibilities and no purpose (beyond the above-mentioned search for the meaning of life). Nobody needs them, and they like it that way. Free and useless like tumbleweed, they roam aimlessly through the realm. They camp. They eat. They talk. They meet other people. The road stretches in front of them. Then the book ends. And no story manifests.

Every writer knows the standard story structure. The hero’s life is broken. He needs to achieve a certain goal to find a new status quo, but there are obstacles in his way. His struggles to overcome the obstacles comprise the gist of the tale. If he doesn’t succeed in his quest, disaster will strike. Those are all the necessary ingredients of a good story.

In the case of this book, the characters have no goals, and there are no obstacles in their way. They don’t struggle. Their lives aren’t broken. Nothing horrible will happen if they don’t find the meaning of life. They just stay on the road, chat endlessly, and contemplate the trees and the sky. Where is their story? I couldn’t see it. No wonder I didn’t like the book.    

What about you? Could you enjoy a book without a story? Did you enjoy this book? Tell me what you liked about it.