This seems to be the summer of long books for me. Or a year, maybe. It started early this year when I read Wolf Hall by Hilary Mantel. Then, I read The Decameron by Giovanni Boccacio and The Once and Future King by T.H. White in June, and now I’ve finished Henry James’ The Portrait of a Lady. All of these are close to, or above 700 pages long. It made me think about long books in general and I felt they deserve a post of their own.
Long books demand a certain level of commitment, and that’s why they are often put aside – it’s what happened to me with The Portrait of a Lady. It’s also easier to find a reason to stop reading a long book if you don’t like it right at the beginning – it’s long, you don’t have the time to waste on it. But sometimes, you read a long book in a heartbeat, without event noticing its length. This happened to me with The Once and Future King and The Decameron. I can’t really say which one I liked more because they are completely different and from a different time period. The Decameron is in a way a collection of short stories so the reading experience is a bit different from reading a novel. I loved it for what it is – a view into the medieval world. I loved The Once and Future King for what it was as well, and I’ve already talked a lot about it. (Review 1/ Review 2) Now, the other two books are another story.
I must admit, and it saddens me to do it, that I didn’t really enjoy Wolf Hall. I was certain I was going to love it, but it left me disappointed. I felt its length while I was reading it and towards the end I just wanted it finished. The style didn’t suit me. I mostly don’t have a problem with slower reads (I remember when I read Murakami’s 1Q84 – another long book – and was surprised to learn that a lot of people found it slow because I read it quite quickly and thoroughly enjoyed it) but I just couldn’t get into this book. I felt detached from the character(s) and from the story itself. A similar thing happened with The Portrait of a Lady, though I liked it much more than Wolf Hall. In this case, I could relate to the characters. It kept me interested, but at points the descriptive style was too overbearing. I know, the Victorian style is like that, but I’ve read a lot of Victorian novels and I didn’t find them as slow as this one; some of them even made me cry which is not that easy to achieve. It’s an interesting portrayal of human psyche and I appreciate it for that, but it didn’t completely suit me. Why? It’s hard to say, and it’s a question that is almost impossible to answer. It’s hard to explain exactly why something “works” for you. The story isn’t enough, it has to be presented in a way that captures you. And sometimes, I think it’s important to read a book at a right time, a period in your life when it can speak to you best. In a way, you have to find a piece of you in the book you’re reading, even if you didn’t know that piece existed at all – be it your feelings, your interests, experiences you had or the ones you wish for, or even your fears. There’s certainly more to consider, but the truth is – once everything aligns, the number of pages doesn’t matter at all.
What is it that makes a book drag you into a completely different world and forget about the time spent reading it? Well, if any of you have some answers, I’d be glad to hear them.
Many of my favorite novels are short. I think this is especially true of books that emphasize style and artifice (books like AS I LAY DYING and THE GREAT GATSBY, OF MICE AND MEN, WAITING FOR THE BARBARIANS, or THE BELL JAR). But there are some long novels that I go back to like ANNA KARENINA and MOBY DICK. For the most part, I think I agree that long books are definitely not automatically better than short ones and often long books are a challenge for the writer. If there is not enough story to justify a tome-length, then style and verve alone cannot carry the day.
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Thank you for your comment! 🙂 I agree, the length of the book doesn’t necessarily mean quality or more imagination. Everythin has good and bad sides but a good novel is a good novel no matter the length. Anna Karenina is a great long book, I really like it.
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I love long books, but they have to be well-written AND generally in a genre that excites me. I might stick with an okay book for 250 pages, but if I’m going to commit to 400 pages or a series (1200 pages) it has to be my version of great!
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That’s true. And that’s why I prefer standalones – I’m afraid I might get disappointed as the series progresses. (I have the same problem with TV series, even more than with books – they go on and on and lose focus.) But, of course, there are great series out there as well. There really are no rules. 🙂
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Wolf Hall wasn’t something that impressed me either, I tried to appreciate it but just didn’t see what all the hype was about, whereas War and Peace was magnificent and I really enjoyed it, less so the war bit which didn’t have the impact that I expected it would. I don’t think there is an answer to your question, it is an enigma up there with why does somebody only want my attention when I’m settling in to read?
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