Missing a plot
I just finished reading A God in Ruins by Kate Atkinson.
I read her first book – Behind the scenes at a museum way back and since then, have been loyal to the writer.
Given the current state of affairs with almost everything topsy-turvy, I found myself going back to more familiar, sure-shot names to get the mind active, juices flowing, etc.
However, it appears that I have been making rather bad choices. It could be the general state of mind, but it could also be a problem with some of the books I have been picking up.
Now this particular one – A God in Ruins – I picked this up because: 1/ Kate Atkinson, and, 2/ the first part “companion piece”, Life after life was, to my mind, everything that was good story telling - the story hit the ground running, the characters, even Teddy’s were all well developed, the narrative kept a steady pace despite the back and forth.
That does not appear to be so in this “companion piece”. Kate Atkinson’s anecdotal style is definitely endearing and provides hilarity to the situations. However, it just appears like something was missing in this one.
For one, there was no real reason given to continue with the book. One does not feel motivated for what comes in next – perhaps because not much happens that one does not assume already.
Second, the new characters felt under developed. And the old characters felt stronger. This is a bit of a shame since the only thread tying in the older story and the new one was Teddy. But it could have been Viola’s family’s story. I did not really end up feeling much for Viola or the kids. However, every time a character from the previous book appeared, it felt like there was a subtle attempt at re-building them instead.
Third the “point” of the book – the raison d’etre, for the want of a better word, comes far too late into the book – maybe 60% down and by then, there are multiple fragments of storylines that need to be tied up. They don’t get tied up.
***
The other book that I had picked up last month with a lot of expectations was Manu Pillai’s book The Ivory Throne: Chronicles from the House of Travancore.
It started out rather well and well – I will admit that it felt that we had a new brilliant writer on the scene (the guy is what – 26? 27?).
While it started out well, by about 30% way through the book I found myself distracted again.
Don’t get me wrong – it was an eye opener of a book for me. I thought it was very well researched and immaculately put together. But that was it. It was well researched and felt like a commissioned autobiography of Sethu Lakshmi Bai. Much of the incidents (“chronicles”?) narrated ended up pretty much in the same way – singing praises of this one character. After a point, the prose became tad formulaic for me.
At one point, it becomes simply the narration of incidents after incidents (mostly all of which alluding to the praises of the Rani Regent). It felt like it could have been a blog or a series of columns in a journalistic publication (what are those these days anyway?)
I don’t know – is it just me or just bad picks? I finished both books though. Kate Atkinson – because of my loyalty and love for her – I can safely say I was blinded into completing the book. I owe her that much.
Manu Pillai – because it just felt like such a copious amount of information that I might miss out on – not necessarily because of an interesting story line.
I read her first book – Behind the scenes at a museum way back and since then, have been loyal to the writer.
Given the current state of affairs with almost everything topsy-turvy, I found myself going back to more familiar, sure-shot names to get the mind active, juices flowing, etc.
However, it appears that I have been making rather bad choices. It could be the general state of mind, but it could also be a problem with some of the books I have been picking up.
Now this particular one – A God in Ruins – I picked this up because: 1/ Kate Atkinson, and, 2/ the first part “companion piece”, Life after life was, to my mind, everything that was good story telling - the story hit the ground running, the characters, even Teddy’s were all well developed, the narrative kept a steady pace despite the back and forth.
That does not appear to be so in this “companion piece”. Kate Atkinson’s anecdotal style is definitely endearing and provides hilarity to the situations. However, it just appears like something was missing in this one.
For one, there was no real reason given to continue with the book. One does not feel motivated for what comes in next – perhaps because not much happens that one does not assume already.
Second, the new characters felt under developed. And the old characters felt stronger. This is a bit of a shame since the only thread tying in the older story and the new one was Teddy. But it could have been Viola’s family’s story. I did not really end up feeling much for Viola or the kids. However, every time a character from the previous book appeared, it felt like there was a subtle attempt at re-building them instead.
Third the “point” of the book – the raison d’etre, for the want of a better word, comes far too late into the book – maybe 60% down and by then, there are multiple fragments of storylines that need to be tied up. They don’t get tied up.
***
The other book that I had picked up last month with a lot of expectations was Manu Pillai’s book The Ivory Throne: Chronicles from the House of Travancore.
It started out rather well and well – I will admit that it felt that we had a new brilliant writer on the scene (the guy is what – 26? 27?).
While it started out well, by about 30% way through the book I found myself distracted again.
Don’t get me wrong – it was an eye opener of a book for me. I thought it was very well researched and immaculately put together. But that was it. It was well researched and felt like a commissioned autobiography of Sethu Lakshmi Bai. Much of the incidents (“chronicles”?) narrated ended up pretty much in the same way – singing praises of this one character. After a point, the prose became tad formulaic for me.
At one point, it becomes simply the narration of incidents after incidents (mostly all of which alluding to the praises of the Rani Regent). It felt like it could have been a blog or a series of columns in a journalistic publication (what are those these days anyway?)
I don’t know – is it just me or just bad picks? I finished both books though. Kate Atkinson – because of my loyalty and love for her – I can safely say I was blinded into completing the book. I owe her that much.
Manu Pillai – because it just felt like such a copious amount of information that I might miss out on – not necessarily because of an interesting story line.