Argument from the first 40 pages:
Here's the thing: I love fantasy writing. I love Middle Earth and Hogwarts and Westeros -- I love losing myself in alternate, kind-of-similar-to-my-world-but-not-quite kinds of settings. I can get behind a fantasy-world-premise and follow it obligingly, but my argument at this point in Ember is that I am wandering around this novel. I'm stumbling through the first chapters, trying to suspend disbelief and go with the Scholar class, Marshalls law, etc, but I'm a bit lost and confused as to where I am and what's going on. Thus far, the world has not been explained (although the back cover tells me it is "Rome-esque"), and the narration is jumping back and forth between two very different voices in the midst of two very different stories. The narration hasn't given me a minute to look around and get my bearings; I haven't had a bird's eye view of this world or any information about what its basic premises are. It's a bit much to expect from the reader -- to wait 40 pages to get hooked. I prefer to tour Middle Earth for a minute before setting out on my quest...I like to know what Panem is before I begin to fight the Power...I just like to get a little acquainted with my fantasy world before trying to survive in it, you know?
* note: I am totally hooked on this novel, of course, and I'm sure the narrators will flesh out Ember's world as I read. I just want to remember that this is probably not a good YA for young high school readers; I'd recommend it for 11th and 12th graders. It requires a great deal of patience and reading-while-confused to get hooked into the story.
It is high level and that was my initial concern--but at the same time, we do have G and T students who need to be challenges as well--I spend so much time finding novels to hook struggling readers that sometimes I worry and seek out those novels that might provide a needed challenge for highly proficient readers--I look forward to reading your entry next week--as for the argument, you are wandering and provide evidence. What of a rebuttal or warrant?
ReplyDelete