Wednesday, September 3, 2014
Journeys in the life of a "heroic" novel reader
There are a lot of different books that should be classified as "hero" books, but usually, I read more books about an everyday person. I mean, I've read some of the Harry Potter books, and I've read many dystopian novels where the protagonist is the hero. But now that I think about it, I really don't read many books about heroes. I’m the type of person that can identify plot clues, and am able to foresee what happens at the end of a book. It’s frustrating for me, because I’d rather have more books where I can’t tell what’s going to happen next. Then again, I seem to like books that purposefully give you the ending in a handbasket at the beginning, and then do something cool and/or interesting with that, which is probably why I loved TFIOS. Anyway, for me, it’s not as easy to find a really good book that does something like that for me. That’s why when I read really good books, I harp on and on about them, because it truly means something to me to have a book that does the unpredictable. I guess this is why you won’t usually catch me reading “heroic” novels.
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I can understand how the traditional heroic narrative could be a bit repetitive or boring. However, I would also argue that many heroic narratives do have interesting plot twists and that many characters in regular books are heroes even though they are flawed. For example, in The Red Tent, by Anita Diamant, the protagonist Dinah does not do anything particularly heroic, but the fact that she manages to survive a patriarchal society and many hardships in her life to carry on her mother's line and to eventually fall in love makes her a worthwhile hero. Heroic acts can range from killing the Dark Lord to finding the courage to love someone, and so many characters are heroes, and the trials that they go through make their stories into heroic narratives.
ReplyDeleteI'm pretty sure I get what you mean, especially about the stereotypical 'hero' novels being super repetitive. However, I think it depends on what your definition of a hero is. I agree with Mary in that there are so many different ways a person can be a hero. It's kind of like we talked about in class with a hero being more than a superhero, there are also just normal people who are sometimes seen as heroes.
ReplyDeleteI also tend to find books that you can automatically guess the ending to be a bit boring, because you are just waiting for the end to come. This is why I find myself really enjoying mystery novels and hero novels. With mystery novels, a successful book will be descriptive enough that I will be attempting to solve the case along side the investigator(s). In hero novels, although the reader can usually figure out who the hero of the story will be, it's the journey that excites me. Most all journeys are different, and it's cool to see how authors can write different twists and turns that keep you reading, even though you have already figured the end.
ReplyDeleteI agree with you that hero books can be a little predictable, however usually thats because they tend to have happy ending which is why people like them so much. Do you think hero books would be as popular if they weren't as predictable and they all lived "happily ever after"?
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