It’s nice to be back answering BTT memes, after a two-week hiatus while on vacation. Here’s today’s meme:
What was the most unusual (for you) book you ever read? Either because the book itself was completely from out in left field somewhere, or was a genre you never read, or was the only book available on a long flight… whatever? What (not counting school textbooks, though literature read for classes counts) was furthest outside your usual comfort zone/familiar territory?
And, did you like it? Did it stretch your boundaries? Did you shut it with a shudder the instant you were done? Did it make you think? Have nightmares? Kick off a new obsession?
Two unusual books come to mind. First, Diary of a Bad Year, by J.M. Coetzee. I blogged about this book extensively here. The structure of this book is unlike anything I’ve ever seen. Each page is divided into two or three sections. The top section contains excerpts from an essay collection the main character, Senor C, a famous author, is working on. The next section contains Senor C’s musings, mostly about Anya, a woman who lives in his apartment complex. The third section contains Anya’s musings, mostly about Senor C and her boyfriend Alan. While the structure was interesting, the book was not. I abandoned it midway through.
Second, The Post-Birthday World by Lionel Shriver. I blogged about this book here. In the first chapter of this book, the protagonist faces the decision of whether or not to cheat on her husband. The rest of the book alternates between the storyline where she did cheat and the storyline where she didn’t. I really liked this book a lot, largely because of the interesting idea.
I guess “unusual” to me means a different structure. What does it mean to you?
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I defined “unusual” in a similar way in my BTT response. And I’m reading The Post-Birthday World right now – it’s definitely an interesting presentation.
I enjoyed The Post Birthday World, and I thought she handled that odd structure very well. Have you read We Need to Talk About Kevin? Difficult subject, but very well written, and also in an “alternative” structure (letters interspersed with narrative).
I concur about the different structure bit and I’d also add in different narrative. Pretty much any time an author breaks away from more traditional literary techniques tends to be fairly unusual.
Florinda – I look forward to reading your review of The Post-Birthday World. I couldn’t put it down. It felt like every chapter ended with a cliff-hanger because you had to wait a chapter to get back to that story line.
Becca – I haven’t read “We Need To Talk About Kevin,” but I’ve now added it to my TBR list. Thanks for the recommendation.
Adventures in Reading – I hadn’t really thought structure and narrative as separate elements, but it makes sense that you could experiment with one and not the other.
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