Thank you, Stephen Fry!

[grinning_soul]

Although I read a LOT, I can't say I've read many books that were so badly written that their crappiness severely diminished my enjoyment of them. Whether this is just a matter of luck or due to the impeccable taste of my friends who've lend/gave me books to read or my own intuition when it comes to choosing something nice for NWR reading, I don't know. Maybe I'm just woefully uncritical of stylistic flaws if the story and characters manage to grip me. (Snape-shaped hole, I'm looking at you.) Let 's just say, I'm a fairly generous reader when it comes to fiction. The only really bad novel I've read was probably Dan Brown's The Da Vinci Code. And I felt snobbish and petty for hating it so much while others seemed to actually like it. (Why oh why?) It wasn't just the heavy-handed pseudo-feminist plot (hello? Mary Magdalene still ends up as a walking womb) or the the unbelievably flat characters (Gary Stu!) that never came alive for me or the many factual errors (shouldn't it be The Leonardo Code? - just one of my many quibbles; don't even get my started on the awfully uninformed misreading of The Last Temptation of Christ). Above all, it was its style (or lack thereof) which made me want to shake some sense into the silly book.
So I squeed a little with Schadenfreude when I read Stephen Fry's "blessay" on fame today in which he manages to perfectly sum up my reading experience:

"I usually last longer with any best-selling novel, however pathetic, than I did with his. [Yes! Me, too!] But in his case I knew from the very first word [WORD!] that this was a writer of absolutely zero interest, insight, wit, understanding or ability. A blunderer of monumental incompetence. The first word, can you credit it, is ‘renowned’. [Argh, journalese!] ‘Renowned symbologist Henry Titfeather ….’ or something equally drivelling, that’s how this dreadful book opens. How do you begin to explain to someone that you just don’t start a fictional story by telling your readers that your character is ‘renowned’? You show it, you don't tell it."

It's been over a year, but I think reading this book has slightly traumatized me. SO. BAD.

ETA: I think 'Snape-shaped hole' will be my new favoured term for denoting minor stylistic lapses that, while making you briefly go WTF?, are not too distracting as to actually ruin your reading experience.
*tired, makes me silly*

Comments

[spes-unica.livejournal.com]

LOL, what an enjoyable post... :-)

[spes-unica.livejournal.com]

Er, yes, I was being too quick for myself here and posted before I had actually finished:
I also loved this:
(Snape-shaped hole, I'm looking at you.)
That was so cute! Yes, I think you should definitely make this part of your regular vocabulary.

[grinning-soul.livejournal.com]

"The story is funny and engaging, despite a few Snape-shaped holes."
I think it works.