“The title of this book is borrowed from Dostoevsky’s weirdest novel, The Demons, formerly translated as The Possessed, which narrates the descent into madness of a circle of intellectuals in a remote Russian province: a situation analogous, in certain ways, to my own experiences in graduate school.” So begins The Possessed which tells the story of Elif Batuman’s graduate school years at Stanford University. Batuman narrates the perils of academic conferences, academic politics, and academic relationships. I wanted to like this book more than I did. Yes, there are some zany parts, but it should have been MORE zany. The book meanders too often. A good editor could have cut 50 pages and made this a better book. B-
So many books I read these days need serious editng, George. As Dr. Crider has said, nothing takes you out of a book faster than bad usage, misspellings and the like.
‘”No,” she hissed’ is one that drives me nuts, and I just read a really good book where the author screwed up inferred and implied.
Paging Maxwell Perkins!
Yes, there’s a good book in THE POSSESSED trying to get out, Jeff. A good editor could have helped make it happen. But today editing seems to be a lost art.
Ah, how often that is the case. Is it only we older ones who cry out for books under 300 pages. Or even under 250?
I don’t mind lengthy books, Patti, if they can hold my attention. I have no problem reading Trollope’s triple deckers. But even a 300-page book can seem too long if it meanders aimlessly. Editors used to stop that kind of writing, but they seem to be a vanishing breed today.
“The book meanders too often”. That’s a killer, isn’t it? Of course, I do that, but, as we say around my house, “that’s different”. Self-editing and non-editing seem to be common these days, which is a pity.
As I’ve grown older, I’ve become an impatient reader, Rick. I don’t have the patience for badly edited (or non-edited) books that drift aimlessly for pages and pages. The irony is THE POSSESSED could have been a very good book. There’s plenty of promising material here for an editor to help the writer develop. But, somehow, it didn’t happen.
I’m not so old, and I agree completely with Patti. There are very few Trollopes out there, novelists who have the writing chops for triple deckers.
Like you George, I’m an impatient reader. But I’ve always attributed that to my diet of MTV and video games.
I suspect it’s the skill of the writer to sustain a narrative over hundreds of pages, Drongo. James Clavell did it just fine for over 1000 pages in SHOGUN. Trollope propels a story for over 600+ pages with ease. Yet, as Patti points out, some 300-page books seem too long.