This is Jane. In my absolutely delightful book group, we sometimes give
Jane a hard time about her reading style.
Jane does not like to read books with bad endings; therefore, she always
reads the ending to see if she is going to like the book. If she is going to be disappointed with the
ending, then she saves herself the trouble of reading the book. Sometimes if Nona is struggling through a
book, she calls Jane, who Nona knows will have “finished” the book already, to
see if it is worth reading. All of us in
the book group get exasperated with books that have bad endings. We also feign exasperation with Jane who
doesn’t “play by the rules.”
Is Jane cheating?
When I first met Jane I was surprised that this retired
English-teacher-turned-high-school-counselor would defy the established though
unwritten laws of book reading. When you
open a book and read that first sentence, aren’t you making an agreement with
the author to enjoy her story in her way?
Isn’t there some kind of contract between the two of you? In return for his giving you enjoyment and
knowledge through his words, shouldn’t you give him the time and pages needed
to develop the plot the way he intended without jumping to the end?
Cases in point:
·
If we knew that in Pride and Prejudice Elizabeth and Mr. Darcy are going to end up
together wouldn’t it diminish the tension we feel through several hundred pages? Would this scene be quite as enjoyable if we were positive that it was coming?
·
Wouldn’t it ruin The Da Vinci Code to know that Teabing is the teacher before Dan
Brown is ready for you to have that information? Yes, by the time Brown actually reveals this,
we have suspected the same; but we don’t suspect it from page 1. I would feel cheated if I didn’t get to
figure that out on my own.
·
Would you really want to read Where the Red Fern Grows if you knew
that Old Dan and Little Ann were going to die in the end? Why put yourself through it?
Are too many classes in college devoted to developing your
style of WRITING and not enough to developing yours style of READING? (Perhaps I would have done better on the ACT
if I had practiced Jane’s style of reading on the reading portion of that
exam.) What do you think of Jane’s style
of reading? Although I frown on it, I
happen to know that Daniel smiles on it.
Let’s hear from you, Daniel!
And everybody else weigh in on the subject too. Thanks for your comments.
I've always thought I was against reading the ending of books first and I have only done it once (Catching Fire). But, I am a GREAT re-reader. I still love the tension in Pride and Prejudice between Elizabeth and Mr. Darcy even when I know they end up together. I have read The Da Vinci Code many many times and love seeing the trickery of Teabing. Many of my favorite books I re-read almost every year--Harry Potter, the Giver, and The Goose Girl. I also rarely read books that haven't been recommended by someone. I know they won't have me read a book that has a horrible ending. So maybe I don't frown on reading the end as much as I've always thought I did--I do it just in a different way.
ReplyDeleteFor me - it all depends on the reason I am reading. If I am reading for fun - I am definitely against reading the ending first. That takes away all the "fun" of reading. However, if I am reading it for school, work, or for understanding the work -- I am all for reading the ending first.
ReplyDeleteNot a chance. I wouldn't ever read the ending first. But, I am like Whitney in that most books I read have been recommended by someone that I trust. So I like to think that I will like the book. And I guess, if like Boomey, I were ever reading a book for school or work maybe I would...but I haven't been in school for 9 years! All my reading is for fun!!!
ReplyDeleteI recently read Dead Wake, a nonfiction account of the sinking of the Lusitania. After I was about 50 pages in, I decided to read up on the story on Wikipedia before continuing. It was almost as if the author expected you to know the ending while you were reading, so I felt like I would get a lot more out of the book by knowing the ending. And I certainly enjoyed the book much more that way.
ReplyDeleteI did the same thing with Killing Kennedy. I read online about the assassination, which helped me understand the author's inclusion of details in the lead-up to the actual assassination.
But that's all nonfiction. I personally prefer to read fiction the regular way, as the author intended it. I'm usually bugged to read a novel for which I've already seen the film adaptation (like I did with Maze Runner and Divergent). But if others want to take a different approach, I respect that decision and don't believe it's wrong. And if reading the end can help you decide you don't want to waste your time reading a book, it can actually be a great time-saving device. Better to find that out earlier than later....