Kath
10th January 2008, 09:45 AM
How does one explore several centuries of global history while maintaining the reader's interest in the novel?
One of the most common reasons that a reader will put down a book is that they find themselves thinking or saying something along the lines of Dorothy Heydt's 'eight deadly words':
"I don't care what happens to these people" (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eight_Deadly_Words)
Robinson attempts to sidestep the difficulty of continually reintroducing new characters by simply recycling the old ones in different incarnations. A lot of authors do this, of course (Eddings has been using the same cardboard cutouts since day one, and Anne, too, has a number of standard character tropes that appear again and again, ad nauseum), but in Robinson's case he maintains some level of character continuity while developing the characters greatly.
Should we think of the characters in this book as individuals in their different incarnations, or as part of a spectrum of a single personality?
Does the character development flow only in one direction? Does the necessity of re-treading the same ground in terms of personal growth of the characters emphasize what they're learning through their lives, or is it boringly repetitive to the reader?
Could you keep track of who was who within the Jati? [If not, there's a summary of the different incarnations over here. (http://booksandotherstuff.blogspot.com/2007/02/reincarnations-for-years-of-rice-and.html)]
In your opinion, did Robinson avoid the eight deadly words?
Hopefully that's enough to get you all started. Please continue the thread as you will, and if you want to expand into a discussion of specific characters, this would be a good place in which to do it.
One of the most common reasons that a reader will put down a book is that they find themselves thinking or saying something along the lines of Dorothy Heydt's 'eight deadly words':
"I don't care what happens to these people" (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eight_Deadly_Words)
Robinson attempts to sidestep the difficulty of continually reintroducing new characters by simply recycling the old ones in different incarnations. A lot of authors do this, of course (Eddings has been using the same cardboard cutouts since day one, and Anne, too, has a number of standard character tropes that appear again and again, ad nauseum), but in Robinson's case he maintains some level of character continuity while developing the characters greatly.
Should we think of the characters in this book as individuals in their different incarnations, or as part of a spectrum of a single personality?
Does the character development flow only in one direction? Does the necessity of re-treading the same ground in terms of personal growth of the characters emphasize what they're learning through their lives, or is it boringly repetitive to the reader?
Could you keep track of who was who within the Jati? [If not, there's a summary of the different incarnations over here. (http://booksandotherstuff.blogspot.com/2007/02/reincarnations-for-years-of-rice-and.html)]
In your opinion, did Robinson avoid the eight deadly words?
Hopefully that's enough to get you all started. Please continue the thread as you will, and if you want to expand into a discussion of specific characters, this would be a good place in which to do it.