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I’m seventy-five pages into my review copy of Francine Prose’s new book Lovers at the Chameleon Club, Paris 1932 and I’m just not sure what to make of it. It is one of those novels told in multiple voices with sometimes very distant perspectives to the main course of the plot. Most of the telling happens through documents — letters, chapters from a biography, newspaper stories, chapters from a memoir of some kind — but sometimes there is a chapter of regular narrative storytelling. This sort of approach I generally have no issues with, I often like the variety of perspective such a style has to offer. But this time I am struggling with it.
My struggles aren’t because I am having trouble following along or keeping things straight. My struggle comes from how contrived and same-y it feels. Prose can’t seem to find different voices for the different perspectives so they all come across as too much alike. And the letters, ugh! The letters are being written by only one character to his parents, a young man from Hungary who has gone to Paris to try and make his name as a photographer. This is 1924 and the guy is writing stuff to his parents that I wouldn’t write to mine in 2014! Plus the style in which he writes is not a correspondence style, or rather, each letter begins that way but as soon as he starts telling his parents what he has been up to it turns into a regular prose narrative with dialogue conversations that end with a plea for money and a sign off from the loving son. In addition, there are so many different narratives it is getting a bit cacophonous.
And now I find myself wondering if I should even keep reading. The story isn’t bad but it hasn’t grabbed me either. It is all just so-so. I am on the fence over whether I should give it another twenty pages or if I should call it quits because so-so isn’t good enough at the moment and King Lear is taunting me because I know I will love it since it is a reread that I loved the first time around. It is easy to give up on bad books or good books I am definitely not getting along with, but giving up on so-so books is harder because there is still the hope that maybe it will get better in ten more pages. But that can end up being a trap when after ten pages it still isn’t getting better but maybe in ten more. See me talking myself into making this book a DNF? The fence is starting to wobble.
Life is too short for boring or poorly written books. I say skip it.
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eatierney, you are right, life is too short and there are too many other books!
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Are you expected to read the book for some reason? paid review?
if not, meh! throw it across the room.
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booksandbuttons, it’s a review copy but not for a paid review. It’s one of those in which the publicist sent me an email asking if I’d like a copy and I said sure but I don’t believe that puts me under an ironclad obligation to finish the book so I think I will get over it all and move on! 🙂
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This is one of those situations which I’m not sure about. If you get a review copy, are you obligated to at least finish it, and ‘expected’ to write a relatively good review on it? This happens to me for films. Once I was sent a preview copy on DVD which I could hardly finish watching, never mind writing a review on it. What is one to do? BTW, I’ve less than enthusiasm re. Francine Prose’s books.
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Arti, if it were a paid review or for a magazine or something other than my blog I’d be obligated in that respect to finish it but I think while publisher hopes I will read and review the book favorably I am not technically under obligation to do so. They’d probably rather a glowing review than another post of me kvetching about not liking the book! Good to know you have had a less than enthusiastic experience with Prose. I’ve liked a couple of her nonfiction books but this is the first fiction I’ve read and I think it will probably be the last.
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I agree a so-so book is sometimes hard to give up on because you think what if it turns out great soon? I guess I would maybe give it some more pages but if I had something that was really calling my name, that book would be on the bottom of the reading pile 🙂
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Iliana, exactly! Books that start off so-so can be really surprising and you can end up loving them. But there is King Lear waiting for me and it is looking more and more likely Prose’s book is not going to get any more attention from me.
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Since the issue isn’t the lack of a story but the way it’s narrated ( and that seems deeply flawed) I can’t see how another 10 pages is going to make any difference. The letters are not suddenly going to be written in different styles and the writer isn’t going to stop saying improbable things. Give up now and go read so,etching which is worth your time. There, decision made for you!
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BookerTalk, you’re a doll! Thank you! You are right, of course, the style isn’t going to change which is too bad because the story really is one I’d like to read but I will end up not being happy about it if I keep going, so King Lear is going to get my eyeballs now 🙂
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I think BookerTalk is absolutely right. A problem in the style is unlikely to turn around anytime soon, although I suppose it’s possible that the story could get so much better that the writing ceases to be annoying. But I find that once I notice the writing in a book isn’t that good, I can’t stop noticing it. The story has to grab me before the writing problems come to my attention.
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Teresa, such wise advice from you and BookTalk. I am liking the story but it isn;t compelling enough to make me overlook the problems in style that, you right, won;t be getting any better.
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At this point, I have no problem in putting a book aside if I’m not enjoying it. In fact, I resent books that don’t “grip” me, even if they are “Okay.” The last one I forced myself to finish was Edgar Sawtelle, and I told myself never again. What torture. I put down The Lovely Bones although it was gripping, but the story itself was just too much for me. So, there are all kinds of reasons why we do not finish a book, and they’re all fine reasons. So I say, Move On.
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Grad, good point! Time is too scarce for books that one is not really enjoying!
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It sounds a lot like the Valerie Martin book I just read in terms of style, but she was very good at differentiating the narrative voices–she changed tack a lot but you always felt like it was someone new telling the story. If it is all very same-y it sounds like it could be a little tedious going. Life is short and there are too many other books you will probably love–I say set this one aside and be happy with another book. The Prose will find another audience somewhere else. 🙂
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Danielle, yes, that it is same-y makes it feel a bit tedious especially since the story is not moving along at a quick pace. If all the voices were distinct I am certain I would like the book but when I have to keep checking on who the narrator currently is then it’s not a good sign!
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Put it aside. And the word is ‘aside’. Whatever it’s good or bad points the book clearly isn’t doing anything for you at the moment and I bet you that you’re reading far less than you would normally be getting through as a result. It’s getting in the way of your enjoyment of reading. Bad book! But, you might find that at a later date either you feel like going back to it or you read someone else’s review of it and get a different perspective and then you can pick it up again. Aside doesn’t mean giving up on it forever.
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Alex, hmm, I like the way you think. I can set it aside and read other things and if I don’t get back to it then I guess I wasn’t interested in finishing it. Thanks for the suggestion!
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Funnily enough, I struggled with Francine Prose’s Blue Angel. It was a campus novel about a creative writing class and I though: ticks all the boxes. But when I read it, it felt SO generic – like all the campus novels in the world had been put into a blender and this was what came out. So my feeling is that Prose is a much better non-fiction writer than a fiction writer. Her book about the muses was fab. I think it would require quite a lot to get me to read one of her novels again, and after your review, I don’t think this one will be in the running!
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Litlove, I remember when you read Blue Angel! I should have remembered that when I thought I might like this new one. I suspect you are right that she is more interesting as a nonfiction writer. I’ve only ever read a couple of her nonfiction pieces and liked them quite a lot. Live and learn, right?
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