The more I think about this series of articles, I realize that it necessarily is illustrating my prejudices and preferences when it comes to literature.
You know now that I like books that pass the "hair standing on end test" and settings and characters that are firmly rooted.
Today, I'm telling you about another aspect that makes literature great to me: telling the story in a different way.
Take "The Lovely Bones," by Alice Sebold. People loved it because it was so different, telling the story of a murdered girl from her perspective in Heaven.
Another great recent example is "The Afterword" by Mike Bryan. It's an intriguing story purporting to be the book-length afterword to a best-selling novel, "The Deity Next Door," but the original novel doesn't exist. It's a strange, funny book about writing a book, and about faith and religion in modern America. But more than that, it's a great idea for a story. That's what I liked about it.
For the same reason, I love "The Color Purple." It's the story of several women living, learning and loving in the South and in Africa.
What's unique about this story is the presentation: It's a series of letters, mostly from the main character, Celie, to God, but also some from Celie to her sister, Nettie, and some from her sister to her.
The unique presentation of this book got me reading, but the really great story is what makes it a classic.
When I read this book recently I wrote in my reading journal: "It's a beautiful story about powerful women who have all sorts of challenges thrown at them.
"They are done wrong by men, abused, raped, disrespected. Babies are taken away from them. They try to stand up for themselves and often just get into more trouble."
That's a pretty good synopsis, if I do say so myself. Of course, it's a lot more confusing than that. Celie's children are taken away from her, and Nettie ends up being taken in, and taken to Africa, by the husband and wife Celie's children were given to. There's a lot of sharing of partners and family ties that often left me thinking: OK, she's whose husband? Lover? Mother? Sister? Child?
But that overlapping of ties and sense that everyone in this community needs all the other people is one of the themes of the book, especially when it pertains to the women. Because this book is really about women having the power to liberate themselves from men and to make a world for themselves, usually with the help and love of other women.
You know now that I like books that pass the "hair standing on end test" and settings and characters that are firmly rooted.
Today, I'm telling you about another aspect that makes literature great to me: telling the story in a different way.
Take "The Lovely Bones," by Alice Sebold. People loved it because it was so different, telling the story of a murdered girl from her perspective in Heaven.
Another great recent example is "The Afterword" by Mike Bryan. It's an intriguing story purporting to be the book-length afterword to a best-selling novel, "The Deity Next Door," but the original novel doesn't exist. It's a strange, funny book about writing a book, and about faith and religion in modern America. But more than that, it's a great idea for a story. That's what I liked about it.
For the same reason, I love "The Color Purple." It's the story of several women living, learning and loving in the South and in Africa.
What's unique about this story is the presentation: It's a series of letters, mostly from the main character, Celie, to God, but also some from Celie to her sister, Nettie, and some from her sister to her.
The unique presentation of this book got me reading, but the really great story is what makes it a classic.
When I read this book recently I wrote in my reading journal: "It's a beautiful story about powerful women who have all sorts of challenges thrown at them.
"They are done wrong by men, abused, raped, disrespected. Babies are taken away from them. They try to stand up for themselves and often just get into more trouble."
That's a pretty good synopsis, if I do say so myself. Of course, it's a lot more confusing than that. Celie's children are taken away from her, and Nettie ends up being taken in, and taken to Africa, by the husband and wife Celie's children were given to. There's a lot of sharing of partners and family ties that often left me thinking: OK, she's whose husband? Lover? Mother? Sister? Child?
But that overlapping of ties and sense that everyone in this community needs all the other people is one of the themes of the book, especially when it pertains to the women. Because this book is really about women having the power to liberate themselves from men and to make a world for themselves, usually with the help and love of other women.
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