Book Meme - Day 1

Do you prefer character or plot driven novels? Why?

I absolutely prefer character driven novels. And I actually learned this about myself somewhat recently. Or at the very least, articulated it clearly somewhat recently.

A year ago I attempted to read Zelazny's classic Chronicles of Amber series. I found an omnibus with all ten novels in a single binding. It was just over 1000 pages long. Because of the single books is about 100 pages long. And those novels have a breakneck pace filled with twists and turns and plots and betrayals. But they were so condensed that I never got a sense of any of the characters. They all seemed like pawns more than people. Just there for the author to move around to get to the next shocking twist.

I hated it. I only ended up reading half the books. Now, less than a year later, I barely remember anything that happened. A few things stick in my head - the trumps, the pattern - but I can barely tell you what happened or why or even the names of any of the characters.

By contrast, a few years ago I tore through and deeply love Robert Jordan's Wheel of Time series. Each of it's thirteen book is nearly as long as the entire Chronicles of Amber. Plus there was a prequel "novella" that's longer than half the books currently on my to-read list. This series got bogged down in character detail. It had over 200 point of view characters. I loved it. Even the parts the slogged were interesting. I never even considered giving up this series, and I want to re-read it one day (maybe when I'm retired, or when Gavin's in high school if he shows interest in fantasy).

The difference in those two classic series and my different reactions to them is what led me to this realization. But it's by no means a new preference. I'm so drawn to books with multi-faceted, complex, human characters that I barely even comment on it in my reviews. It's such a given for me, part of what makes a story worth reading.

And I guess it comes down to the fact that I read mostly to learn about other people. I want to read about different points of view and motivations and problems. If the characters don't feel like people, if there isn't something there to make me care about them, then I get bored. When the characters aren't driving the action, then the action feels phony and contrived.

So yeah, I'm much happier with a long, meandering meditation than a quick, flashy page-turner.