I’m not a very fast reader. I tell you this not only because my alter-ego gets annoyed when I confess such things (See my Fictional Author’s Bio for more examples…) but also because it will give you some context when I say that I remember the first book I read in one day.
It was The Hunger Games, by Suzanne Collins, and before that book I didn’t even know I was capable of devouring an entire novel in one sitting. I even wrote a fan letter to Suzanne Collins to tell her that her books were my very first ‘one day read.’ The unchallenged conclusion in my mind was:
This book was so great I read it in one sitting!
Fast forward a couple years to today, where I am currently reading The Five People You Meet in Heaven, by Mitch Albom. This is not a long book, nor is the style particularly challenging, nor am I overwhelmingly busy, but still I’ve been working at it for a long time and I’m not even half finished.
But here’s the thing: The Five People You Meet in Heaven is an amazing book! Like, really. Amazing. I am so in love with this novel.
But wait… if I love it so much, shouldn’t I be done with it by now? Shouldn’t I have read it all in one day?
Friends, I am confused.
Up until now, I have always equated a book’s momentum with the quality. I’ve read so many articles about how to make your book a page-turner, and I’ve done my best to incorporate those elements. But suddenly, I have to sit back and wonder: Why?
It has been tattooed on my mind that you need to grab the reader and hold them hostage to your words; that even when they say “I’ll go to sleep after this chapter” you need to make the last line of the chapter so interesting that they are powerless to stop reading.
But as I read Five People I don’t have that sense of urgency or desperation. I finish a chapter, and generally I don’t want to keep reading because that chapter was so lovely that I want to give it a room of its own in my mind. I want to savor the words and bask in the ideas.
But wait! I didn’t feel the need to savor and bask in The Hunger Games. Does that mean I liked the book any less?
So, let’s revisit my earlier confusion.
This book was so great I read it in one sitting!
In reality, this isn’t a cause and effect. Just two different statements.
This book was so great! I read it in one sitting!
I can say with just as much validity, This book was so great! It took me a month to finish it!
While I enjoy revelations like this, it raises some interesting questions in my own writing. Should I be trying so hard to reach that ‘couldn’t put it down’ status, or is it actually okay to give the reader permission to breathe and sleep and make dinner once in a while?
Honestly, I don’t know anymore. I’m wonder if I’m inserting momentum for momentum’s sake alone, and that doesn’t seem healthy for the book.
Does anyone want to help unravel this for me? (Or perhaps we can just languish in confusion together…) I’d love to get some other thoughts on this topic.