Amazon reviewer on Vellum
Posted in Fantasy |
I’m halfway into Ink right now and it’s finally starting to make sense! Happy moments of understanding. I even figured out that Guy’s play is The Bacchae in disguise (long live Wikipedia!). A bit earlier I was bored and I got to reading Amazon reviews… Not unexpectedly, many people hated the book. But I found this following comment very interesting: the reader disliked the exact things I love about the novels.
This is the first book that I have ever returned to any bookseller because I simply could not stand to read it any more. I made it just over half-way though before giving up hope that there would be a huge payoff at the end.
What Vellum lacks are several literary devices that have served to make works of fiction readable for the past few hundred years. A brief list follows.
Characters with Consistent Names: Most characters in works of fiction have old-fashioned names that remain constant throughout the book. Characters in Vellum lack fixed names and identities - the names change depending on the time, location, and nature of the scene. The inconsistency in character naming, appearance, status as deity or non-deity, human or non-human, etc. makes reading this book an unrewarding up-hill struggle. I do not think it is too much to ask an author to provide us with the basic tools to identify unique characters in a story.
A Sense of Time and Place: I had hoped that the flash-back / flash-forward writing near the beginning of the novel would flatten out into a forward-progressing narrative, or even multiple narratives. I was disappointed (and ultimately disgusted) to find that extreme changes in time and location were the norm throughout the first half of the novel and occurred without warning, context, or pattern.
Any Clues to Help the Reader Discern What is Actually Happening vs. What is Only Happening in Someone’s Memories, Dreams, or Fantasies: I am a tolerant reader. I accept that there are things which are written on the page that are not literally happening to the characters. Unless obfuscation is the author’s purpose in these situations, however, I would appreciate the occasional tiny clue as to when we are in reality, when we are in memory, and when we are in fantasy or a parallel universe.
Dude, that’s the fun part! Guessing who is who and what they’re doing (and, even more importantly at some points, when) is what I love about The Book of All Hours. Tracking down the myths is great and for me at least it was a very good opportunity to refresh my memory. Gods are fun. Extra fun when the other book you’re reading (Snow Crash, Neal Stephenson) also has an important role for Inanna.
November 5th, 2008 at 12:31 am
I must admit that the lack of clear narrative direction really wound me down whilst attempting to read Vellum. Really wanted to like it and to enjoy it but it it lost it for me. I couldn’t hold it all in my head and after that I lost interest in the patchwork that Hal was building…. maybe it was too clever for me?
November 5th, 2008 at 12:35 am
It’s a matter of taste… I’ve always loved books that made me guess.
This one is finally paying off… after a volume and a half I can finally see how the pieces go together! It’s a very nice feeling.
Although it’s too “smart” for me too: I’m sure I missed half the more-or-less hidden things. Some for lack of knowledge, some for lack of cultural context (i.e. Glasgow is called Kentigern in one of the “realities” and I had no idea Kentigern was the patron saint of the city in our world).
November 5th, 2008 at 12:54 am
[...] mostly harmless books responds to an Amazon reviewer’s comments on Vellum by Hal Duncan, one of the few books that I put down halfway through. [...]
November 5th, 2008 at 1:18 am
I just had to check. I’ve got the bookmark on page 316 and I just attempted to read the next paragraph and I’m lost.
It’s good to know that by the time you’re into the second book it all comes together. It didn’t put me off in the sense that I don’t want to read more of Hal’s stuff. Maybe I’ll try it again after reading something else.
It has Glasgow in it? I’m missing lots!
November 5th, 2008 at 1:38 am
the line that starts ‘Maybe i’ll try…’ should say, ‘after reading something else by him.
Sleepiness and commenting don’t mix ;)