Wouter > Recent Status Updates

It is a drag, a slur, which could be told in a third of the words.

There has been some repetition which, again, could have been shortened.

Now entering an interesting part why and how storytelling from the Romantics onward attempted to move away from the archetypes.

The main problem with this book will probably be the lack of support from secondary literature. Booker picks and chooses stories to support his ideas, but I find it hard to call these ideas profound. Yes, you show they might be true by enumerating examples, but to what end? Where does the idea of the Dark Father come from?

Knowing Freytag and the hero's journey really helps keeping focused. I can't imagine Booker not being aware of these well-established structures in connection to his own ideas. A visual representation (also like Vonnegut's story types) would be helpful.

Nothing chauvinistic yet. Jane Austen, George Eliot and Charlotte Brontë discussed; continuously saying 'hero or heroine'.

This book could have used a better editor. The number of synopses is sometimes frustrating and find myself skimming through some.

Luckily, there is a summary at the end of every 'plot', but I would rather have started with the clear overview of the plot followed by a small selection examples to see how it works out.

Really missing the connections to the Hero's Journey. Booker's covered 3 plots now and all seem light versions of Campbell's Journey. It is striking Booker's only mentioned him once in the beginning, yet the similarities are obvious. Also missing Freytag.

Book is quite readable, but I think there are too many extensive examples.

Reading some of the reviews on Goodreads, this will be a tricky read. Booker was a Conservative, Eurosceptic, chauvinistic, climate denier, who wrote a too long book on stories without being a literary critic or psychoanalyst.

However, after becoming interested in story design after Campbell's Hero's Journey it will be interesting to see some alternative perspectives.

Reading some of the reviews on Goodreads, this will be a tricky read. Booker was a Conservative, Eurosceptic, chauvinistic, climate denier, who a too long piece on stories without being a literary critic or psychoanalyst.

However, after becoming interested in story design after Campbell's Hero's Journey it will be interesting to see some alternative perspectives.