Andrew Ye: "Dear Carmen Maria Machado: Complexity and Stangnant-cy (if that even is a word)"

Dear Carmen Maria Machado: Complexity and Stagnant-cy (if that even is a word)

By Andrew Ye

            It’s been a long time since I had the chance to pick up a book outside of school. However, how I would go about it is through outside review and recommendations. I trust my friends to provide good reads and the public opinion to provide a general understanding of a book. More recently, even though this was an assigned reading, I couldn’t stop myself from reading a book for a project because it was so compelling. That’s what I look forward into a book. Something that allows me to think but not too much. The worst thing an author can do is use complex language. I believe it’s harder to form an image in my mind when I must spend time using context clues to first figure out what the author is talking about. This puts me off and I lose sight of what the book is about.

Both the complexity of the reading and how the plot progresses decides what I consider in a book. One of the many reasons I loved the book I was assigned because the plot and language was the best part. That’s what the author is supposed to focus on. Plot that sticks to a very tight schedule isn’t interesting because it’s monotonic, boring, and too simple at times. However, I’ve seen authors pull this off and be successful. For example: We recently learned about world building in our Speculative fiction class and how important it is to the story. If I don’t have a good picture of the world through the plot that feels stagnant and uninteresting. Good plot introduces the world with detail in simple language.

These two reasons of the complexity of the language and its use in the process of building a world as well as the drive of the plot are what decide whether it’s worthwhile to finish a book instead of picking up a better book to read.