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The Magicians
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TM: Characters
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Scotty
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Apr 17, 2012 09:40PM
I am 20% into the book and so far none of the characters have captured my imagination. That's why every time I pick up the book it feels like a chore. I am new to Sword & Laser. In fact this is my first book club so I'd feel like a jerk if I didn't finish the first book. I guess what I want to know is do any of the characters in the book ever do anything that would make me care what happens to them.Or even someone I can hate. A good villain would be great right now.
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I think we can definitely say that the answer to that is "no". If you don't like the characters 20% in, you're not going to like them more later. One of the big complaints about this book is that the characters don't change, grow, or develop.And there aren't any good villains, either.
That said, it's okay to lem it. Not all books will appeal to every person, and deciding one is not for you is perfectly fine. After all, if the discussion of the book intrigues you enough, you can always go back and try again later. If the discussion of the book makes you feel that your lemming was justified, then you didn't waste time on a book you would have hated. It's win-win, really.
For a while, there's been an alternate pick for those who finished the main pick early or weren't interested in the main pick. But that got a little bogged down as 1Q84 was SO long, so there isn't currently an alternate. Maybe there will be next month.
I agree with what Tora said. I'm someone who usually ploughs through a book just to finish it and despite all my criticism I liked The Magicians well enough to actually want to keep on reading.The story itself does move forward, although the characters hardly do. That kept me going enough, plus I liked Eliot and Alice, so that was another redeeming thing.
You can still participiate in the discussions though, there are at least a couple of threads that I think could be interesting even if you haven't read the whole thing.
I had the same problem that you had. I didn't like or dislike the characters, and I didn't care what happen to them, to the point I was thinking in leming it, but I started liking it after the first time the go somewhere...
I too am roughly 20% in. This is my first book club read. I really like Alice and her social awkwardness. Hope there is lots more of her. Overall the story is intriguing enough to keep me reading. Not much into the other characters though.
Josh. Hang in for Josh.Dungeons and Dragons, motherfer!!!
I'm 75% through the book and I like ALL the other characters except our dear lead, Quentin. I adore the landscape of the book, the locations, the mysteries, but Quentin drives me nuts. Maybe because I'm a 24 year-old alcoholic (in recovery) and all of Quentin's issues (so far) swarm over alcohol consumption. I wanna knock him over the head and take him to a meeting. This is a obviously a personal note. I hope Lev somehow levels this out in a real world manner by the end of the book, instead of just saying...Quentin gets everything he dreams of and he can still drink like an idiotic fish! I hate those unresolved things, but then again, I might be being too realistic.
I too didn't care one way or another about these characters. Normally, by the end of a book I have a strong attachment to at least one of them, but this book didn't inspire that feeling in me at all.
I am very disappointed in the way Lev penned his characters in this book. He is a great writer and a good storyteller BUT he seems to be following the same path as Stephen R Donaldson in that he gave us a protagonist to hate rather than love. I don't waste my time with people I don't like in real life, (who does) so where does Grossman get off asking me to do just that with a book? Because the man can create good prose, I will give his next series a shot but I am done with the Magicians.
I was just reading the general reviews, from outside the S&L community. I was struck by one who mentioned this book was being blasted by those who 'need a hero for a main character, rather than someone more realistic.'I think that comment says as much or more about the people who liked this book than it does about the book itself. What type of person is it that thinks "heroism" automatically means "unrealistic?" Is there no possibility of heroism in the "real" world for them? If so, I can see why this book would appeal.
I wonder if we're using the wrong words. Is it "do not like" or is it a) "have no respect for" or even b) "have no use for?"a) There are lots of anti-heros (Harry Flashman, Alan Lewrie, Sydney Carton come to mind) that have some redeeming quality.
The main character doesn't do a whole lot with willful intent, aside from tripping up the Prof's spell. Mostly he's pulled by others into situations where things happen around and to him.
b) Throughout the entire book we're given no reason for the book being centered around him - except for the fact that he's one of the characters that survives to the end of the book, and THAT seems to be entirely random chance.
It could have been Q eaten by the Beast early on and someone else telling the tale. If it was Penny or Martin telling the tale, would the story have been much different for 90% of the book?
I do think this characterization was intentional. I just don't understand why. Is Quenton being a "sheeple," getting dragged around his life's path a pointed reflection of speculative-fiction readers who read to "escape" rather than act to improve their situation? Will Q stop venting his spleen and grow a spine as the series unfolds? Is there a Carton or a Lewrie in him somewhere?
After reading some of the comments I decided to try and read some more. I forced myself to read another 5% which made me feel like I was back in school reading something I didn't want to. Then I check back here and saw the comment from Alex "Life is too short for bad books!" and decided to bail on this one. So thanks, Alex for putting it in to perspective for me.
Amelia wrote: "Josh. Hang in for Josh.Dungeons and Dragons, motherfer!!!"
"He is working in another project. He want's to use **** to go to middle earth."
My main problem with this book was that the characters did not have unique voices. I thought Quentin was believable as a character - but all the other characters were practically the same as him. Ok, so one of them is gay and loves wine, one of them sleeps around a lot, one of them is supposedly painfully shy, one of them is a loner and has a mohawk, etc. But knowing those facts about them didn't differentiate them enough once they opened their mouths and began interacting with each other. They all spoke in the same manner, they all had similar thought processes, they all reacted in the same (unpredictable) ways. One of the hallmarks, in my opinion, of really good writing is the ability to write characters who have unique voices and personalities - they have their own manner of speaking, their own vocabulary, and as you get to know them you can somewhat expect to know how they will respond to certain situations. They have a coherent and internal consistency to themselves.
I don't feel like Grossman quite achieved that. He didn't fail utterly, but it was pretty weak. Apart from Quentin, who did feel like a complete character to me, the closest Grossman came were with Josh and Richard - they at least had some unique identifiable qualities about their personalities.
I'm only about 15% through the book, so it might be early to comment, but I'll do it anyways :)While getting familiar with Quentin Clearwater in the beginning, did anyone else get reminded of Holden Caulfield from The Catcher in the Rye? Both characters of similar age, both very intelligent (both attended higher level schools), and both with a huge chip on their shoulder. I'd like to hope that Quentin ends up less miserable in the end than Holden, but I get the impression from some comments I've read that I shouldn't expect a huge breakthrough.
Napoez3 wrote: "Amelia wrote: "Josh. Hang in for Josh.Dungeons and Dragons, motherfer!!!"
"He is working in another project. He want's to use **** to go to middle earth.""
HAHAHA he is by far my favorite character.
