Feeling unethused with recent popular books I’m still…
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Feeling unethused with recent popular books
I’m still thinking through my thoughts on the last couple of books I’ve read but I feel like I’ve been sorely underwhelmed and unenthused by recent popular books lately, even ones touted as trangressive or unusal. For the books that are somewhat interesting or novel, there is still something missing (a lack of sincerity, missing authorial commitment, a tepid final third that ruins whatever goodwill the first two thirds commanded in the reader, etc.)
I’m thinking about the last couple of books that I read that were highly recommended by others or talked about- Lost Lambs, Boy Parts, Tampa, My Dark Vanessa. Some of the books are so scared of seeming sincere and committing to something that they fall into total irony and the conclusion often leaves you feeling unsatisfied (particularly Cash’s book which just seemed so smug and scared of following a particular thread). Others seem like the poor man’s renditions of tropes or books that have already been explored in much more interesting ways (Lolita, American Psycho etc).
This of course isn’t to say that writers can’t continue to expound or engage with existing materials, but that modern authors seem to be allergic to coming up with something truly different or revolutionary (regardless of how disturbing or pushback they may get). Perhaps that’s a result of living in the intenet novel era, where writers are conditioned to maximize and soften the impact of their work? I would love to read something truly unsettling or novel and maybe that’s where my frustration lies. Anyone have any thoughts or feelings similar to this? Perhaps I haven’t been exposed to other much better works lately (which may be the case as I try to read what folks have been chatting about to get the gist).
#entertainment
source
I’m still thinking through my thoughts on the last couple of books I’ve read but I feel like I’ve been sorely underwhelmed and unenthused by recent popular books lately, even ones touted as trangressive or unusal. For the books that are somewhat interesting or novel, there is still something missing (a lack of sincerity, missing authorial commitment, a tepid final third that ruins whatever goodwill the first two thirds commanded in the reader, etc.)
I’m thinking about the last couple of books that I read that were highly recommended by others or talked about- Lost Lambs, Boy Parts, Tampa, My Dark Vanessa. Some of the books are so scared of seeming sincere and committing to something that they fall into total irony and the conclusion often leaves you feeling unsatisfied (particularly Cash’s book which just seemed so smug and scared of following a particular thread). Others seem like the poor man’s renditions of tropes or books that have already been explored in much more interesting ways (Lolita, American Psycho etc).
This of course isn’t to say that writers can’t continue to expound or engage with existing materials, but that modern authors seem to be allergic to coming up with something truly different or revolutionary (regardless of how disturbing or pushback they may get). Perhaps that’s a result of living in the intenet novel era, where writers are conditioned to maximize and soften the impact of their work? I would love to read something truly unsettling or novel and maybe that’s where my frustration lies. Anyone have any thoughts or feelings similar to this? Perhaps I haven’t been exposed to other much better works lately (which may be the case as I try to read what folks have been chatting about to get the gist).
#entertainment
source
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