Owen's Writing Ramble

Okay, so here I go with what I couldn’t say last week.

Recently I read Kristin Cashore’s Graceling and had planned to post the review on this blog (as I had been doing for the past few weeks). As I worked through the review in my head and considered what I had just read, the good and the bad parts of the work, and whether or not I would suggest it, I found that I was rationalizing and just spending too much time explaining the reasons for my opinions. Not only is that not the point of my reviews (which are supposed to be concise(-ish) opinions on the quality of the work or works) but it meant that I was struggling with something larger than what Graceling, by itself, was offering.

Originally I thought my struggles were with the fantasy genre as a whole, since Graceling fits that bill. Though I don’t dislike the genre, and have dabbled in it, and will continue to do so, it isn’t usually my favorite to read. There is/was also a decent amount of conflict within Knox’ writing department regarding that particular genre. That is to say, there was a very clear…fissure between the pro-fantasy and anti-fantasy writers and, to a lesser extent, readers. I thought that maybe my rationalizations were because I didn’t want to step on too many toes on either side. As I wrote my explanation and opinion I found that it was not the fantasy genre that was the issue at hand.

So I stepped back and looked at the other works I’ve critiqued. With the possible exception of Close Range I have had at least one issue with each writer’s work. This does not mean I had a problem with their abilities with English. As far as I’m aware every story I’ve read was grammatically correct. Rather, there was something else amiss. I originally thought of it as a sort of ‘sloppiness’ and attempted to re-write what would eventually become this post to reflect that change in perspective. But, again, I found that that wasn’t what I was having an issue with either. What I understood of John Updike’s collection was most definitely not sloppy. Everything he said was meant to be said and yet I still couldn’t remove his collection from the list of ‘stories where something isn’t exactly as I’d like it to be’ (a non-catchy and poorly defined turn of phrase).

So what then? What am I having an issue with? Why do I feel I need to rationalize my opinion? At Knox there was a class that I was unable to take called “Ways of Reading.” A friend of mine had taken the class and explained it to me. To her the class taught that there are three aspects to a story: there is the writer, the reader, and the story itself. If you’ve ever talked to an author you might have heard them complain that a story ‘just got away from them’ or that they were surprised by a revelation they hadn’t seen coming or that they just simply couldn’t get the writing to do what they wanted it to. Ultimately I think that that’s what the issue came down to. There was something about Graceling (which I will expand upon next week) that didn’t seem to fit with what Ms. Cashore’s vision of her story suggested it should have been.

So here’s what it boils down to, and something to keep in mind when reading one of my critiques. I, as a reader, will try my best to avoid placing themes and imagery into a review of a story unless they are clearly there. This blog is not a discussion group and, while I would like to hear your opinions on my reviews (hint! hint!), these are my opinions and my suggestions and an arguable statement could possibly set up an expectation that cannot be fulfilled. However, there are themes and undercurrents to most stories that are never actually mentioned outright (and so are more debatable than the overt themes). As a critical reader I do try to find those hidden or underemphasized undercurrents and, when found, they will affect my reading and the way I understand the story. Sometimes these findings will confuse me (as they have done in Graceling) and I will have to try and determine if this undercurrent was intended on the part of the author or accidental. Ultimately, what’s written on the paper is the core of a story, what’s written between the lines can and does directly affect this core, whether the author intends it or not, and my personal opinions are just that. When I review I will try to limit my opinions but everything else is fair game and an undercurrent that might be missed under normal circumstances can and will effect my read and eventual review.

Now that I’ve got that off my chest I will begin writing my review of Graceling sans any unnecessary commentary…