Dear Rene Sears: All
the Things that Work or Make a Tear Jerk
By Natalie Valentine
I think you
are spot on when you mention that word choice and language can make or break a
book. There were some stories I read as a preteen where I just could not get
past the writer’s style. For example, Gracling
by Kristin Cashore was a very enjoyable book, other than the fact that her
sentence structure was so short that I found my brain struggling to focus on
the actual story from all of the new knowledge being introduced in every
sentence. More importantly, the themes that I found in the book were very
complex (or very mature), and the two styles just did NOT seem to mesh for me
while I was reading.
In the
story, there are many internal conflicts that the main character faces that
become really overwhelming after her character gets fully introduced. However,
she still thinks in binary, which bordered on infuriating me at some points in
the story. Because I related to the internal struggles that she faced, I didn’t
understand why she had to be a robot while trying to work through her issues.
It really broke me out of my immersion, and sometimes I wanted to stop reading during
the slow sections. Perhaps my feelings of frustration were because of my innate
need to overthink everything and come up with all sorts of solutions, but the
main character still seemed dreadfully simple for such an interesting and
complex narrative.
However, because we are supposed to
reference books that we read in class, I have to point out that the style that
Tolkien used in The Hobbit fit very well with the themes present.
Knowing that it was a children’s book also helped me to deal with the very
straightforward language and ideas. I think what really sold the style to me
was the occasional conversation-like tone that Tolkien uses in order to keep
his readers interested in future stories. It was a really clever way to keep
his audience with him for the rest of a series. One point in particular was
when Tolkien stops the action, and he tells the reader of a great battle that
will happen at the place the characters stand. Not knowing The Lord of the Rings franchise very well, that almost made me want
to read the rest of the stories on my own time.
There weren’t a lot of themes and
struggles that I could relate to while I was reading The Hobbit, however, I definitely enjoyed the narrative being told.
It was a simple story with simple language and ideas that all seemed to
complement each other quite well. At the beginning of the story, we see Bilbo
as a one-dimensional character that doesn’t want to adventure. This is
reflected in the simple rejection of adventure at the beginning of the story.
As the narrative continues, the reader finds that Bilbo starts to think in more
complex ideas. This shows his growth, and it makes the reader believe in Bilbo
because he learns so fast. I thoroughly enjoyed seeing Bilbo grow and gain
respect as he went through his adventure with the dwarves.
Comparing these two fantasy stories
is somewhat difficult because they cover very different topics and are for
different age ranges, but I just can’t get over the fact that there is more
character growth in a children’s book rather than the young adult book. The
simplicity of thought in Graceling is
almost on par with the simplicity of The
Hobbit, but the ideas present are so different in complexity (and
maturity). It’s almost as if the Cashore doubts her readers will understand,
but still wanted to add very difficult concepts. The Hobbit took a much simpler approach, and I think it really
benefitted the story. Because it was a children’s book, there were no sexual
undertones, and the way Bilbo thinks is easily understood. The same approach
doesn’t work when you want to add those naughty adult themes.
Even though I’m ranting, I would
still highly recommend both books. Like I mentioned earlier, perhaps all of my
complaints about Graceling stem from
an untamed instinct for overthinking. Maybe I just wasn’t ready to imagine two
adults doing the hanky-panky in an old castle when I was reading. The Hobbit was much better than the
movie, in my opinion, and I think it deserves to be read by kids instead of
watched by adults.
Dear Natalie,
ReplyDeleteYou offer up an interesting juxtaposition of texts in this post, suggesting that the two are almost a kind of wash in terms of complexity, with only one of them employing language well-suited to the work's themes and narrative beats. I'm not familiar with _Graceling_ myself, but I can imagine it would be frustrating to feel that the narrative style is selling you short of what the narrative itself WANTS to do.
That may be the place where sf struggles most to stick the landing: balancing the ambition of its ideas with a narrative style that suits the concept itself. You might find Robin McKinley or Diana Wynne Jones more to your taste, if you're looking for a writer who can juggle both those things with aplomb.
Best,
TT