I’m still working on trying to study this book as a writer would… (I suppose one of the reasons I’m reading this book in such a distanced way and focusing on the mechanics rather than the story is that this story and Paul, the narrator, hasn’t really drawn me in.)
The book has very short chapters, and they jump around in time. The keep the reader straight, in most of the chapter openings the author tends to provide the time and place in the first sentence of each chapter.
Here are the first twenty chapter openings:
1. Here is what we know, those of us who can speak to tell a story: On the afternoon of October 24. . .
2. Perhaps you’re familiar with…
3. There’s a talking dog joke… (we’re still in the book’s present – he’s setting up his dog-related topic).
4. A friend of mine from college (so we’re getting a story from younger, post-college days)…
5. Here’s another talking-dog joke…
6. Ah, but I’ve already let it slip, haven’t I, that our first date lasted a week…
7. I became a linguist in part because…I was born… (going all the way back)
8. I’ve heard that…
9. I’ve mentioned the books …Lexy rearranged on the day she died…
10. Back in Disney World…
11. … Since Lexy died… (2nd sentence)
12. The first time I asked Lexy…
13. Here’s the thing… (back when he asked me)
14. I think it was fairly early in our courtship…
15. Lexy and I had a small and lovely wedding…
16. I’ve had a dream that…
17. After our honeymoon…
18. I think I may be making…
19. During that first winter of our marriage…
20. When I was a little boy…
The author, for the most part, lets us know where we are in time/place at the outset of each chapter. Very considerate of her to help us get our bearings. Necessary? Should it be necessary? Should the reader be able to figure it out without being told? Does the reader want to have to figure it out without being told? Something to be considered… (I happen to be one of those readers who doesn’t want to be told, as you’ll know if you read my comment below about not liking to read back cover or flap copy. I like a literary challenge. One of the reasons I like The Time Traveler’s Wife so much is because of the fun of putting together the chronological puzzle it presents. This is also a reason some readers disliked that book and other books that play with time. Total aside, but really disliked the movie of the Time Traveler’s Wife, in large part because it tried to eliminate that confusion and tell a more straightforward story, which I felt totally ruined it.)
Another thing – the narrator occasionally addresses his audience, as in page 122, when he’s describing a visit he receives from his ex-wife and he interrupts to tell the reader: “Don’t worry. This isn’t heading where you might think.” Another literary device that has to be used judiciously and carefully. I often enjoy this breaking through the fourth wall, as they say in theater, but here where it was only used once it jolted me a bit.
(posted 10/2– written 6/24)
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