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magialuna 's review for:
Winter's Tale
by Mark Helprin
I really enjoy watching good films that have been made from good books. So, having seen a lot of people making a really big deal out of this book being made into a film-- and it having some actors in it that I actually quite like-- I decided to make it a priority to listen to this audio-book next.
I always listen to the full audio-books, not the abridged ones, because it seems sort of like cheating--or being cheat-ed when you don't get to listen to the entire book. However, I tell you, in THIS book's case? I really, really wish I'd found an abridged edition. Perhaps I wouldn't have been so completely annoyed with it by the time I was done.
I thought, because of the sheer number of people who truly seem to adore this book that Helprin must be an extraordinary writer. Perhaps he could be, if he'd lose a bit of his love of the "prettiness" of his very wordy sentences and actually chop his book back a great deal so that it flowed better. I remember listening to many great authors speak and many have said that often-times the sentences you have to cut are those that seem the most "precious", or self-conscious--those you seem most proud of--simply because if they are there for the 'writer',and not because they belong in the book- then they don't belong in the book. I constantly found that to be the case in this book.
I have always disliked it when an author decided they needed to overtly describe a scene or a setting to the point of being ridiculous. Firstly, it's boring. Second, it's pretentious and thirdly, it holds up the actual action of the plot and movement of the characters in whatever they are supposed to do. So, well... this book drove me absolutely crazy.
As I listened to this book I *often* found myself saying out loud, "I get it, it's pretty there... Now, could you PLEASE just get ON with the story??" (I was vacuuming so at least I didn't sound like a nut!) :)
But, I stuck with it. Because... I wanted to find out one thing. The author had made me curious about how he was going to tie up a plot that was "supposedly" the main plot of the book (according to the book jacket) (But with the way the book meanders and jumps from plot to plot and character to character... there were times I really lost track of what was going on. Still, I held onto my curiosity about Peter...) I do not understand what sort of possible metaphors or underlying meaning the author might have been attempting to write into the book, because it was so sodden with hyperbole that the story almost seemed not the point. It seemed he wrote the book merely to have somewhere to wax poetic at long length about the woods and horses and the moon, and to try to think of really outlandish things that could happen that he could somehow just write in as "fine" and have the reader accept it because, well, he wrote it--despite it making absolutely no sense at all.
By the end I was frustrated and annoyed with this book. I kept waiting for the author to have some higher meaning, for the plots to truly tie together... for reading the book to have been a bit worth my time. I felt I'd been wading through a slushy, muddy marsh that had a multitude of redirect signs that took me out of the way of the main road-- but at the end, when I was at last there... FINALLY I'd get the answer I'd waited for to satisfy the curiosity that had caused me to slog through the book... Right???
Spoiler..................................................
If I'd been holding a book, I'd likely have thrown it. (I was listening to my phone and didn't want to break it.) So, some creative cursing was done... for a while.
I won't be reading any more books by Mr. Helprin.
I always listen to the full audio-books, not the abridged ones, because it seems sort of like cheating--or being cheat-ed when you don't get to listen to the entire book. However, I tell you, in THIS book's case? I really, really wish I'd found an abridged edition. Perhaps I wouldn't have been so completely annoyed with it by the time I was done.
I thought, because of the sheer number of people who truly seem to adore this book that Helprin must be an extraordinary writer. Perhaps he could be, if he'd lose a bit of his love of the "prettiness" of his very wordy sentences and actually chop his book back a great deal so that it flowed better. I remember listening to many great authors speak and many have said that often-times the sentences you have to cut are those that seem the most "precious", or self-conscious--those you seem most proud of--simply because if they are there for the 'writer',and not because they belong in the book- then they don't belong in the book. I constantly found that to be the case in this book.
I have always disliked it when an author decided they needed to overtly describe a scene or a setting to the point of being ridiculous. Firstly, it's boring. Second, it's pretentious and thirdly, it holds up the actual action of the plot and movement of the characters in whatever they are supposed to do. So, well... this book drove me absolutely crazy.
As I listened to this book I *often* found myself saying out loud, "I get it, it's pretty there... Now, could you PLEASE just get ON with the story??" (I was vacuuming so at least I didn't sound like a nut!) :)
But, I stuck with it. Because... I wanted to find out one thing. The author had made me curious about how he was going to tie up a plot that was "supposedly" the main plot of the book (according to the book jacket) (But with the way the book meanders and jumps from plot to plot and character to character... there were times I really lost track of what was going on. Still, I held onto my curiosity about Peter...) I do not understand what sort of possible metaphors or underlying meaning the author might have been attempting to write into the book, because it was so sodden with hyperbole that the story almost seemed not the point. It seemed he wrote the book merely to have somewhere to wax poetic at long length about the woods and horses and the moon, and to try to think of really outlandish things that could happen that he could somehow just write in as "fine" and have the reader accept it because, well, he wrote it--despite it making absolutely no sense at all.
Spoiler
Because, seriously, the ENTIRE scene where Peter meets Beverly... REALLY?? Back in the days when women used to have to be followed about by chaperone, *this* woman--who is ILL--is left ALONE (She's female and ILL, remember) she's accosted by a middle-aged man alone INSIDE her house who ADMITS he is there as a burglar so her response is... to decide to sleep with him and fall in love with him. Because, of course that what she'd do. (NOT!!) (Still not mentioning that NO ONE WOULD HAVE LEFT HER THERE ANYWAY!!!By the end I was frustrated and annoyed with this book. I kept waiting for the author to have some higher meaning, for the plots to truly tie together... for reading the book to have been a bit worth my time. I felt I'd been wading through a slushy, muddy marsh that had a multitude of redirect signs that took me out of the way of the main road-- but at the end, when I was at last there... FINALLY I'd get the answer I'd waited for to satisfy the curiosity that had caused me to slog through the book... Right???
Spoiler..................................................
Spoiler
NOPE!! And then, he refused to tell me- us, the readers. With some stupid sentence about the "reader using their imagination" or some such rot. (I don't have it here right now, and don't intend to look for one ever again to check, that's close enough.)If I'd been holding a book, I'd likely have thrown it. (I was listening to my phone and didn't want to break it.) So, some creative cursing was done... for a while.
I won't be reading any more books by Mr. Helprin.