So I'm a third of the way into Night Film right now and the book is huge, it weighs a ton. I bought it based on some buzz, some positive reviews and because I wanted to read something different and if you read the back cover, this book is definitely different, part murder mystery, part horror novel and part literary.
It started really strong, the writing is great, but as I read it, I'm a little nervous. I'm not completely assured at this point that the book is going to meet my expectations. Will the ending match the awesome beginning? I don't have that sense of calm that you get with some books that the author is utterly in control, she/he knows what you want and they are going to ensure you get it.
(I know how ridiculous that sounds) but think of your favourite authors and how assured their writing is. The first that comes to mind is Sherry Thomas, I rarely have doubts when I read her book, because there is a sense from the first page that she is absolutely in control and this book will deliver on the promise. Or maybe it's my experience with her and that's me talking for the author when I open her books?
My best example is on the many singing shows there are out there. When someone comes out and they're calm and confident and the first note is awesome, you're more likely to follow them through the remaining song, but it also makes it worse if the last third of the song is an off-key mess.
Or have I had too much coffee this morning? I'm really hoping that this book is great, because I really want it to be. I need a new literary obsession.
3 comments:
This is where it's advantageous to be the kind of person who reads the end of books long before I get there.
Especially if a book is really long, I need to feel that kind of confidence in the reader too...
Reading a longish book is such an investment of time and my TBR pile is so freakishly huge and ridiculously full of books I know are potentially fabulous, that i have trouble devoting myself to something iffy.
PS. Don't tell the interwebz*, but I recently abandoned a long but very-best-selling-and-famous sci-fi book less than a third of the way through. I loved the opening 10% or so. LOVED it. Totally understood why this book got so much buzz. But then it started to repeat itself and move at a glacial speed... I haven't got the time or patience for that anymore...
*what do you mean, 'I just did'?
And when I wrote "confidence in the reader", of course I meant author. D'oh!
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