Aoife’s answer to “can anyone grasp the years it took place between?” > Likes and Comments
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The author may have had her reasons, but intelligent people are affected by current events around them. They talk about them and explore the meaning and morality behind them. The self absorption of the characters made them less believable, in view of their career successes. They were said to be intelligent, successful men, but seemed more like adolescents. That may have been the point.
Hi Liz,
Do you mean the book or my comment? I suspect that you really liked the book, and therefore object to my criticism, but I'll stick to it for now. The mental health issues of Jude were insightfully explored, and the author has every right to establish the setting as she sees fit. However, in regard to character development, I found the characters less believable because they took so little interest in the world outside their immediate personal lives. Perhaps you'd like to elaborate a bit on your comment. It might help me to a better understanding of the novel.
Hi Sandy, the opposite. I meant the book. Your criticism is entirely justified. What is pretentious is the author saying she "didn't want any defining period of time to distract from [her characters]". That's not postmodern or mould-breaking, that's lazy. This book was like eating your way through a huge bag of lollies - you just keep going and going and going, until finally you realise you've swallowed a while bag full of junk food with no substance to it, and feel slightly sick. Good literature doesn't have to manipulate its readers into finishing it.
I had no issues with the deliberately vague time period. Didn't detract from novel at all.
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Good Book Fairy
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Apr 03, 2016 08:02PM
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The author may have had her reasons, but intelligent people are affected by current events around them. They talk about them and explore the meaning and morality behind them. The self absorption of the characters made them less believable, in view of their career successes. They were said to be intelligent, successful men, but seemed more like adolescents. That may have been the point.
Hi Liz,Do you mean the book or my comment? I suspect that you really liked the book, and therefore object to my criticism, but I'll stick to it for now. The mental health issues of Jude were insightfully explored, and the author has every right to establish the setting as she sees fit. However, in regard to character development, I found the characters less believable because they took so little interest in the world outside their immediate personal lives. Perhaps you'd like to elaborate a bit on your comment. It might help me to a better understanding of the novel.
Hi Sandy, the opposite. I meant the book. Your criticism is entirely justified. What is pretentious is the author saying she "didn't want any defining period of time to distract from [her characters]". That's not postmodern or mould-breaking, that's lazy. This book was like eating your way through a huge bag of lollies - you just keep going and going and going, until finally you realise you've swallowed a while bag full of junk food with no substance to it, and feel slightly sick. Good literature doesn't have to manipulate its readers into finishing it.
I had no issues with the deliberately vague time period. Didn't detract from novel at all.
