[HPFGU-OTChatter] Re: Book recommendations?

[P. Alexis Nguyen]

Carol:
>
> Thanks for the clarification. I think I'll stay with first- or
> their-person narration. I can see a reader identifying with "your"
> situation, but how can the character have any identifiable personality
> traits?

Ali:
You'd be surprised.  Phrases such as "You are not the type ..." or
"You feel ..." can convey a lot and definitely gives a sense of
personality.  Second person creates a really interesting narration
where you are both reader and narrator but not.  All of this, though,
requires the reader to work harder than with the average piece of pop
fiction, like DaVinci Code (which I enjoyed, though I'll never read it
again).


> Why not use "I" and present tense (though there's no logical
> explanation for such a narrative strategy--the narrator can't write or
> tell the story and live it at the same time).
>
> Carol, who thinks that discussion of a book whose protagonist is
> referred to as "you" would be rather difficult (at least an unnamded
> "I" can be called "the narrator," but "you" isn't narrating--or should
> I say "aren't" as if "you" weren't in quotes?)

Ali:
I think you should give it a try, especially as someone who works as
an editor.  I think you'll find the writing extremely interesting
(whether you go with my recommendation or Bright Lights, Big City).
Second person is, I think, somewhat experimental and off-putting -
after all, you're asking the reader to be you - but both the books
mentioned haven't won acclaim for nothing.  They're ones that take a
naturally very stunted narrative strategy, one that naturally puts a
barrier between the novel and the writers, and make it work.  I'll
grant that it's not for everyone (and really shouldn't be done by
everyone), but it's something that can be educational to try once.
(Bright Lights, Big City is much thinner than Soul Mountain, so if
you're going to just try, I'd recommend that one, though I do think
Soul Mountain does a better job of connecting with the reader, but
being Asian, I think I was just naturally inclined to relate better to
one than the other.)

Like I said, I'm neither modernist nor into modern writings in
general, so experimental writings of any sort are rarely things I
would recommend, but I feel pretty strongly that second person is
something worth being familiar with (though I shudder to think that it
might become popular since, before the two mentioned books, I was
ready throw second person away as something not worthy of exploring).

~Ali