Are you reading litfic? Have you tried Sarah Perry's Melmoth? I guess it's a cross between litfic and fantasy, but whatever, it's a knockout, a wild retelling of the Melmoth the Wanderer story. I read Charles Maturin's version eons ago....
I'm re-reading a variety of books including some of the Arkady Renko crime novels which are taut *and* beautifully written and darkly funny. I've been sticking with historians like Erik Larson too: great story tellers, fine writers. The prose may be terrific but it's in the service of the narrative.
In my experience over the years as reviewer and reader for myself, those writers tend to be working in history, biography, or "genre."
You don't need to read the series in order to understand that world, so my first suggestions would be Three Stations which I've now read three times. I know he's compared to Alan Furst and le Carré but he's unique.
I walk with a cane now (when I remember it) and it sometimes feels like magic. That simple wooden stick gives my knees the relief they need. I don’t question how that happens, I just feel grateful.
Thanks for saying this, Ramona. I experience this so often with poetry. Sometimes, for my own benefit or ego assuaging, I liken this to sort of a “Chauncey Gardner” thing, where everyone around him assigns their own interpretation of the few words he utters and believes him to be an incredible genius.
I've noticed this, although if I don't know what is happening after 1-2 paragraphs, I never go any further. What really bothers me is entire books that seem to me to have no rationale for ever having been written in the first place (some of these books do very well). There was one someone gave me that had something to do with someone's maid. Nothing happened in the book and it did really well. No story that I could discern. It's depressing how often books like this are published now.
I tend to skim those stories, too, and it’s a shame because the writer obviously worked with great care to assemble those beautiful words. But a hint of a story isn’t a story. It only makes us long for more.
I'm with you on this. Occasionally I love those gorgeous sentences that stop me in my tracks with the beauty of their words but mostly I prefer straight talk that is to the point. We can be very descriptive without using too many words. The wonderful writing teacher here on Substack, Jeannine Ouellette is constantly reminding us of this and of the importance of knowing exactly what your writing is about and making sure that comes across.
Good writing is communicating, letting the reader in on the magic. Leaving the reader out seemed counterintuitive. Thanks for introducing me to Jeannine Ouellette, as well!
I spent a semester of college in a poetry class. I recall how when we were asked to read and reflect on various works I often felt I was shooting in the dark. But over time, I gained confidence in my ability to understand. I also remember, after I gave a dramatic interpretation of The Glass Menagerie, a judge wrote something to the effect of "Tennessee Williams did NOT mean for Laura to be interpreted this way!" I thought, "Did you know the man personally, you old fart!?"
All that to say, I'm sure I've been guilty of ambiguity here and there (sorry!), especially when I'm trying to make sense of what I can't understand, which happens a lot these days. What we say in a piece of writing and what someone else sees in it may not need to be the same. I suppose it's a bit like music in that way.
I have realized that I’m reading in a different way lately. I thought maybe it was the aging process? Or maybe a mental tiredness brought on by trying to really understand where we are in my country and how to help. I find needing to reread passages and know the back story of people and events. But it doesn’t stop me. I plow ahead because I love to read gorgeous writing that makes me feel like I’m right there, along on the journey, included and not on the outside. By gorgeous writing I mean beautifully communicated. It’s authentic. It rings true. You do this often Mona, and you just did it again. 💙 I just read The Place of Tides by James Rebanks. A simple story really, but he captured the beauty.
I think it was Elmore Leonard who said, “If it sounds like writing, I rewrite it.” I don’t want my reader thinking about the gorgeousness of my words. I want my reader to feel what I feel, see what I see and come away refreshed. The wellspring is emotion, but there are probably times when I’m too much in love with my cleverness.
Do you think it's a trend, this obfuscation by the beauty of the words? It will drift to an end? I find it exclusive sometimes too. For a long time I read, and championed, a nature writer who's prose blew me away, but he had become so convoluted by the twelfth or so book that I couldn't read him any more. He had lost the connection in the words.
I see it as a trend when it happens so often I begin to notice. That's why I brought it up here now. It seemed like something we might want to discuss, and I'm all for that. 😏
Ramona, I could not agree more. I started to feel the same way when reading Michael Ondaatje's The English Patient. The sentences were beautiful but I kept stopping to ask, Where are we? Who is doing what to whom? I had no idea. That type of fancy writing exploded, and now people think that's the only way to write. As a writing teacher I tell my students, "No beautiful sentences!" If they're concentrating on similes and metaphors and imagery, they're not concentrating on telling the truth in the simplest and most powerful way. Sometimes there's a book like H is for Hawk, where Helen Macdonald uses gorgeous imaginative language but also tells a great story. It can be done. But mostly that style is just off-putting.
I didn’t read The English Patient but I saw the movie and felt the same way. It was beautiful but what did it mean? I’m past wanting to have to guess at meanings, or to give them my own interpretation. If there’s a story to be told, I want the storyteller to tell it. I don’t think that’s too much to ask.
Believe me, the movie of The English Patient is a model of clarity and concision compared to the novel! Michael was first and foremost a poet, and it shows.
And with prose, too! I attempted the much-lauded new Ocean Vuong novel and after three pages, I felt I needed to lie down with a cold cloth on my forehead. So muchness in the language. Perhaps it is simply the wrong time for me, and I'll come back and try it again later. But yes, this is a time when we don't want to have to struggle to understand the writer's intent. Not when so much else is already a struggle!
There are many famous authors whose works are so opaque I just can't muddle through them. They're famous for a reason, so it's not them, it's me. I'm fine with that, but it still makes me wonder what I'm missing.
Some of them I absolutely HATE. Henry Miller is one of them.
I would hope there is room for all kinds of writers, just as there are all kinds of readers, including those who really love exactly the sound and feel and unknowing of the kind of writing you are describing?
There is room for all kinds of writers. This seems to be a popular trend now, but it's not for me. I'm glad to have a place to talk about these things and to get different viewpoints. So thank you!
My tagline has long been "I wish I were as clever as I think I am." In other words, what I think is brilliant is really just confusing. I learned that lesson way back while trying to market my own small business. Confusing your customer is never a good idea.
Are you reading litfic? Have you tried Sarah Perry's Melmoth? I guess it's a cross between litfic and fantasy, but whatever, it's a knockout, a wild retelling of the Melmoth the Wanderer story. I read Charles Maturin's version eons ago....
I'm re-reading a variety of books including some of the Arkady Renko crime novels which are taut *and* beautifully written and darkly funny. I've been sticking with historians like Erik Larson too: great story tellers, fine writers. The prose may be terrific but it's in the service of the narrative.
I haven’t read Renko but I’m an Erik Larson fan. I love great storytellers who use beautiful words. Thankfully, there are many.
In my experience over the years as reviewer and reader for myself, those writers tend to be working in history, biography, or "genre."
You don't need to read the series in order to understand that world, so my first suggestions would be Three Stations which I've now read three times. I know he's compared to Alan Furst and le Carré but he's unique.
Adding it to my list. Thanks. (Hope you're feeling better today.)
Yes and now. Every day is different. But after two weeks I get to graduate from walker to cane. We'll see how that goes.
I walk with a cane now (when I remember it) and it sometimes feels like magic. That simple wooden stick gives my knees the relief they need. I don’t question how that happens, I just feel grateful.
I have bad knees from years of running, so I sympathize.
The surgeon says I should be able to walk normally after a month. Fingers crossed.
Thanks for saying this, Ramona. I experience this so often with poetry. Sometimes, for my own benefit or ego assuaging, I liken this to sort of a “Chauncey Gardner” thing, where everyone around him assigns their own interpretation of the few words he utters and believes him to be an incredible genius.
I do think of “Being There” when I read sometimes. It may not always be fair, but there it is!
I've noticed this, although if I don't know what is happening after 1-2 paragraphs, I never go any further. What really bothers me is entire books that seem to me to have no rationale for ever having been written in the first place (some of these books do very well). There was one someone gave me that had something to do with someone's maid. Nothing happened in the book and it did really well. No story that I could discern. It's depressing how often books like this are published now.
I tend to skim those stories, too, and it’s a shame because the writer obviously worked with great care to assemble those beautiful words. But a hint of a story isn’t a story. It only makes us long for more.
I'm with you on this. Occasionally I love those gorgeous sentences that stop me in my tracks with the beauty of their words but mostly I prefer straight talk that is to the point. We can be very descriptive without using too many words. The wonderful writing teacher here on Substack, Jeannine Ouellette is constantly reminding us of this and of the importance of knowing exactly what your writing is about and making sure that comes across.
Good writing is communicating, letting the reader in on the magic. Leaving the reader out seemed counterintuitive. Thanks for introducing me to Jeannine Ouellette, as well!
I spent a semester of college in a poetry class. I recall how when we were asked to read and reflect on various works I often felt I was shooting in the dark. But over time, I gained confidence in my ability to understand. I also remember, after I gave a dramatic interpretation of The Glass Menagerie, a judge wrote something to the effect of "Tennessee Williams did NOT mean for Laura to be interpreted this way!" I thought, "Did you know the man personally, you old fart!?"
All that to say, I'm sure I've been guilty of ambiguity here and there (sorry!), especially when I'm trying to make sense of what I can't understand, which happens a lot these days. What we say in a piece of writing and what someone else sees in it may not need to be the same. I suppose it's a bit like music in that way.
I have realized that I’m reading in a different way lately. I thought maybe it was the aging process? Or maybe a mental tiredness brought on by trying to really understand where we are in my country and how to help. I find needing to reread passages and know the back story of people and events. But it doesn’t stop me. I plow ahead because I love to read gorgeous writing that makes me feel like I’m right there, along on the journey, included and not on the outside. By gorgeous writing I mean beautifully communicated. It’s authentic. It rings true. You do this often Mona, and you just did it again. 💙 I just read The Place of Tides by James Rebanks. A simple story really, but he captured the beauty.
I think it was Elmore Leonard who said, “If it sounds like writing, I rewrite it.” I don’t want my reader thinking about the gorgeousness of my words. I want my reader to feel what I feel, see what I see and come away refreshed. The wellspring is emotion, but there are probably times when I’m too much in love with my cleverness.
Do you think it's a trend, this obfuscation by the beauty of the words? It will drift to an end? I find it exclusive sometimes too. For a long time I read, and championed, a nature writer who's prose blew me away, but he had become so convoluted by the twelfth or so book that I couldn't read him any more. He had lost the connection in the words.
I see it as a trend when it happens so often I begin to notice. That's why I brought it up here now. It seemed like something we might want to discuss, and I'm all for that. 😏
Ramona, I could not agree more. I started to feel the same way when reading Michael Ondaatje's The English Patient. The sentences were beautiful but I kept stopping to ask, Where are we? Who is doing what to whom? I had no idea. That type of fancy writing exploded, and now people think that's the only way to write. As a writing teacher I tell my students, "No beautiful sentences!" If they're concentrating on similes and metaphors and imagery, they're not concentrating on telling the truth in the simplest and most powerful way. Sometimes there's a book like H is for Hawk, where Helen Macdonald uses gorgeous imaginative language but also tells a great story. It can be done. But mostly that style is just off-putting.
I didn’t read The English Patient but I saw the movie and felt the same way. It was beautiful but what did it mean? I’m past wanting to have to guess at meanings, or to give them my own interpretation. If there’s a story to be told, I want the storyteller to tell it. I don’t think that’s too much to ask.
Believe me, the movie of The English Patient is a model of clarity and concision compared to the novel! Michael was first and foremost a poet, and it shows.
And with prose, too! I attempted the much-lauded new Ocean Vuong novel and after three pages, I felt I needed to lie down with a cold cloth on my forehead. So muchness in the language. Perhaps it is simply the wrong time for me, and I'll come back and try it again later. But yes, this is a time when we don't want to have to struggle to understand the writer's intent. Not when so much else is already a struggle!
There are many famous authors whose works are so opaque I just can't muddle through them. They're famous for a reason, so it's not them, it's me. I'm fine with that, but it still makes me wonder what I'm missing.
Some of them I absolutely HATE. Henry Miller is one of them.
I would hope there is room for all kinds of writers, just as there are all kinds of readers, including those who really love exactly the sound and feel and unknowing of the kind of writing you are describing?
There is room for all kinds of writers. This seems to be a popular trend now, but it's not for me. I'm glad to have a place to talk about these things and to get different viewpoints. So thank you!
The back story is his first book. The story is fairly simple. I loved it. But it’s not for everyone.
it's so good you should write on Substack for inspiring me
My tagline has long been "I wish I were as clever as I think I am." In other words, what I think is brilliant is really just confusing. I learned that lesson way back while trying to market my own small business. Confusing your customer is never a good idea.