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books that make you keep reading even if you might not want to, California, Kim Stanley Robinson
I am currently just shy of halfway through Kim Stanley Robinson’s The Wild Shore. It is the first book of a trilogy called “Three Californias.” Each book is set in a not so very distant future California. They are not one story told across three books but separate stories told with different future Californias. The Wild Shore takes place in 2047 many years after a nuclear attack but not so long after that there aren’t a few people alive who remember what life was like “before.” The second book, The Gold Coast, takes place in 2027 in a California that is nothing but endless sprawl. And the third book, Pacific Edge, is set in 2065 in a California that has become a kind of eco-utopia. Rumor has it that this third book features bicycles crowding the freeways instead of cars. I often dream of cycling down the freeway, and it is for that reason alone that I have embarked on this trilogy. There are stranger reasons for choosing books to read, right?
The Wild Shore is not my first Robinson book. That honor belongs to Aurora, one I read last year. I liked that book quite a bit but found the writing itself rather dull and while not pedantic, certainly leaning in that direction. But the story and all its implications and the questions it raised were so interesting to me I kept reading.
Now I am well into The Wild Shore I understand that is simply how Robinson writes. It is his style if you can call it that. There is no flare, no real variation in tone, no soaring language or verbal surprises and flights of fancy. Nothing but pedestrian prose. It’s good, solid prose, clear and workman-like. It’s the kind of prose you long for in an instruction manual or textbook but never get. It is not the kind of prose you expect in a novel.
Yet Robinson is a hugely successful author. And I keep reading the book. I have thought a few times that I could not possibly go on reading this prose. But then Robinson will drop an interesting detail, an intriguing tidbit and I have to keep reading. The prose itself might be unremarkable but Robinson knows how to tell a good story, knows how to make me want to keep reading in spite of everything.
It is kind of a weird thing; on the one hand being bored by the writing but on the other enjoying the story and wanting to know what will happen. Are there any authors you read that are like this? They are terrible at one thing but you keep reading because of another thing?
Well, Tom Clancy. The Hunt for Red October is a great story–it was even better as a movie. His style is so easy to parody!
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Jeanne, you know, I have never read Tom Clancy. I’ve seen several of the movies made from his books though!
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I know the feeling ….there are a couple of authors like that and I feel, as long as they keep us engaged through prose or plot, we are in good hands!
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cirtnecce, Robinson is definitely good at dropping crumbs to make me want to keep reading in spite of everything else! It’s kind of a strange reading experience though, reading authors like this.
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I actually feel a little bit this way about Attica Locke. Her prose isn’t “bad” (not anywhere near a Dan Brown level!), but it’s basic. But her characters and the stories that she chooses to tell are more than enough to keep my interest.
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Elle, yes, that’s it. The prose is basic but everything else manages to keep my interest. It’s like a little medicine and a little sugar.
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Very interesting commentary. I almost want to read Robinson just to get a sense for the prose/story style that you describe.
I remember some of the old science fiction and fantasy books that I read years aho like this; great story but flat writing.
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I wonder if perhaps a lot of genre fiction can be a bit like this. Probably more crime fiction than science fiction. This sort of humdrum and pedestrian writing can work quite well if there is a really compelling story (but then a REALLY gripping plot may lift the style- he said optimistically).
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Ian, not sure. As Brian Joseph mentioned, Robinson kind of has an old-fashioned feel to his style, like a James Tiptree Jr or even a bit of Asimov. Pedestrian writing can work well but while Robinson’s plots are interesting I wouldn’t call them really gripping. He is not a page-turner kind of writer, more of a very detail-oriented realism with some thought-provoking ideas if that makes any sense! 🙂
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I wonder too, Ian, whether a lot (not all of course) genre fiction is like this – boring writing, full of cliches, etc. I haven’t read much like this Stefanie because I try very hard to avoid it, but a few years ago I decided to reread one of my teenage idols, Nevil Shute – he of On the beach, No highway, A town like Alice – and I was so disappointed in the writing. Dated, yes, but just cliched. I’ve decided to leave him in the past and move on. I’ll never forget what his books meant to me but no more. Life’s too short. That said, I do sometimes watch pedestrian TV because I’m interested in the story and want to know what happens!
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Poor Nevil Shute. 😉
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Brian Joseph, I’ve heard his Mars books are really good. I suspect he has the same sort of style in them but I don’t know for sure. Aurora is good though if you want to just try him for a stand alone. You know, now that you mention it, his writing is similar to some older sff I have read. Interesting.
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I love Daniel Silva’s Gabriel Allon series. His writing is not bad, but he often uses cliched phrases (e.g. “The pair of cypress trees stood like sentinels…”) Not exactly stirring prose. So, meh. But the stories he tells are so good and “at the end of your seat-ish” that I forgive the style – although there are some readers who love his writing style. I’m waiting for the next in the series due out later this year, The Black Widow. I’m all a-tingle.
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Grad, ah yes, one can forgive a lot for an edge of the seat story! I hope Black Widow is a fun one!
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Sometimes, I like the writing–beautiful sentences that flow–but find the story uninteresting. Of course, we are all ecstatic when we find both fine writing and a compelling story in one book!
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Jenclair, you are right! Sometimes the writing is beautiful but the story is no good. But when the two combine, those turn out to be special books!
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I usually need good writing to be fully engaged with a book. But I can appreciate a good plot. I’m thinking of The Girl on the Train by Paula Hawkins. Page-turning plot, pretty mediocre writing, in my opinion. I gave it three stars, which means “liked it.” Did NOT think it was worth all of the hype it got.
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Laila, that book did get lots of hype didn’t it? Good writing and a good plot is the ideal package but sometimes it doesn’t work out. I am finding I don;t love Robinson but I like him and find him interesting and can appreciate what he is up to.
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Although I can’t think right now of an example–quite often I will find I like a book solely because the story transports me away even if the writing is sort of mediocre. I am probably a far more forgiving reader–if they get one thing right I can stick with it. Of course the really best reads are the ones that have both great writing and a great story, but sometimes it seems that can be hard to pull off. I do like the sound of these books–and the fact that there are three possibilities–so the same characters show up in all the books? I am contemplating (actually I know I want to read it, but I have So many books on the go…..even more than normal…) starting The Day of the Triffids, which I wanted to read a while back, if you recall. Now it is calling my name. Even with that long weekend I couldn’t manage it. So, when is the next long weekend….
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Danielle, if the story is good I can definitely be forgiving on everything else. I think you are right that the complete package is hard to pull off but when it happens it is great. I’m not sure if the same characters appear in all the books, I suspect not but I could be wrong. I thought you had started reading Day of the Triffids? I hear you about lots of books on the go! Independence Day weekend is the next holiday weekend but I am taking a week of vacation later this month. I can hardly wait!
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A lot of the crime fiction I read has what I’d consider serviceable prose. It’s not what I’d consider bad, or even dull. I mostly just don’t notice it. It does its job of serving me an enjoyable story.
Because my day job includes doing a lot of line editing, I sometimes like reading books where I don’t notice the prose at all. Once I start noticing it, it’s hard to stop myself from editing it to our magazine’s style, even if it doesn’t need editing.
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Teresa, as long as the prose isn’t bad and does the job of serving up a good story, yes, I can go with that, though I much prefer a good story and good prose but we can’t have everything all the time.
Oh I have never thought of that aspect of being an editor! I suppose it can be hard to turn off the urge to edit sometimes!
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Depends on what their strengths are and what their weaknesses are. I’m very, very unlikely to keep reading a book with lovely prose where the plot is garbage (though it happens sometimes), whereas I’ll often carry on with a book whose writing is workmanlike and the plotting is superb. How I feel about the characters generally tips it one way or the other, I think!
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Jenny, yeah I agree with you about being unlikely to keep going on a book with lovely prose but a garbage plot. It is much easier to forgive the writing when the story is a good one than the other way around.
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