Being a writer, and especially being a critique partner,
tends to make “escape reading” pretty tough. Subconsciously, the trained author
instinctively seeks out character flaws, lack of motivation, point-of-view
shifts, etc. etc. etc. So, to escape my
inner editor and truly escape, I need something interesting. And please, pretty
please, make interesting last more than five pages. The word’s gotten out that the author must capture the reader’s attention in
the first five pages, but what seems to have gotten lost in mutation, is… if
the story starts to drag after page six, I’m still going to toss the book in
the trashcan—be it a real or digital rubbish bin.
It goes without saying that really interesting characters with
realistic goals and difficult problems to solve are the basis for any good novel.
That said, a quirky story that transports me out of my normal world will make
me forget I ever owned an editor hat. Think Forrest Gump. He didn’t exactly
have a goal, and his motivations were at best, hazy, but the POV is extremely clear.
While it’s probably true there are a limited number of novel
plots, the standard story-line doesn’t preclude “completely different approaches.” And by completely different I don’t mean blue aliens who can shift into skunks and find stinky portals to alternate forests with purple trees—that’s been done and redone in some fashion since War of the Worlds.I’m talking different like Italo Calvino’s If on a Winter’s Night a
Traveler. This is a novel about
reading a novel, only the reader (aka, you) keeps getting interrupted by other
novels. The story begins after a printer’s error where you return to the
bookstore to select another book… May sound confusing, but the tale kept me
reading.
Another kind of different is The Insides, by Jeremy
P. Bushnell. The books blurb instantly
transports you into the unusual:
Ollie Krueger is a punk magician-turned-butcher who dreams of returning home to the husband and son she
lost. Maja is a psychic mercenary hired to track down a very special knife that
happens to be in the possession of Ollie's rival and co-worker. As the intrigue
ramps up, it becomes clear that the story's minor players are willing to put
any number of lives at risk for one magical artifact.
I’ll be the first to admit, not
everyone has my limited attention span. And even with my need for the different
and the bizarre, there’s still a place for the classic boy-meets-girl love story
… Even if she’s blue and he’s red and they can’t be together because the shape-shifting skunk
has blocked the mailbox portal.
We are truly blessed to live in a
world where so many books are available in so many different types of media. So
whatever keeps your reading, find it and
keep reading.
Happy Fourth of July!
Robin
