When is a book not worth reading?
In the sixth grade, my reading class was assigned to read “The Hobbit.” Some 80 pages into it, I decided it wasn’t worth reading and refused to finish it. In my follow-up report I explained why I didn’t finish. Though I don’t remember the exact reasoning I used, I still managed to get an A.
I think it was an honest, fairly well-reasoned explanation that earned a good grade, and I’ve tried to follow the same guidelines ever since.
I was recently faced with a similar situation, this time with “Imaginary Girls” by Nova Ren Suma. Like the “Hobbit,” “Imaginary Girls” has gotten positive reviews across the board, but I just couldn’t get into it.
“Imaginary Girls” is the story of Chloe and Ruby, sisters who are as close as any two people can be. Ruby is the older sister, and she’s a star. Ruby is the center of attention, the girl everyone wants to be with.
Chloe adores her sister and will do anything she asks of her — even if that means swimming across a reservoir in the pitch dark of night. Ruby has Chloe’s complete trust, but that’s tested one night when play with Chloe’s friends turns into discovery of a dead body. Ruby is haunted by the event and sent away from town to live with her father.
Ruby doesn’t want Chloe to leave and she’ll do anything to get her back. And when she turns up at Ruby’s home two years later, it’s like they were never apart.
This is where I stopped reading, with Chloe returning home. I picked up the book three more times, trying to continue, but I just couldn’t concentrate on the story anymore.
In the beginning, I liked Nova Ren Suma’s lyrical, meandering prose. It’s very calm and inviting. The problem was her story meandered, too, and at some point, I just wanted her to get to the point.
Apparently the whole book has a dreamlike quality. According to Hafsah at Icey Books, “Throughout the whole book, you’ll feel like you’re in a daze, like none of what’s happening is really happening. Pretty soon, it’s hard to tell what’s real and what’s not — for Chloe and for the readers.”
Hasfah’s favorite part of “Imaginary Girls” was the author’s writing. “The way Nova Ren Suma is able to let the words seep below your skin makes this book all that it is,” she wrote in her review.
Other readers, it seems, also struggled with Suma’s prose. “The fact that ‘Imaginary Girls’ seems to focus more on beautiful prose than character development means that the characters—not the least of which is Chloe, the protagonist/narrator—come off as only vaguely intriguing, their interestingness born more out of the roles they are assigned in the story than they themselves,” said Steph Su at Steph Su Reads,
A lot of reviewers loved the books, while many remained ambivalent. The slow pacing at the beginning that I found off-putting was a common theme, however, most reviewers I found during my Google search said sticking with it was fairly rewarding.
Which brings me back to my original question: When is a book not worth reading? I usually give myself between 50 and 80 pages to get into a book. If it doesn’t catch my attention by then, I usually move on to another read. If I stayed with “Imaginary Girls” would I have eventually been rewarded? Maybe. Maybe not.
How many pages should you read before giving up? And if you don’t finish a book, is it really giving up?
2 Comments
I think 80 pages, especially in a fairly short book is fair enough. I figure if the author doesn’t grab me by then, I’ll find something else more interesting. The longer books, though, like “The Hobbit” might need a little longer to get into, so I base when I quit on how long the book is. And if I’m not sure whether I want to keep reading or not, I read the end and see if I like it. I have yet to read all of “Gone With the Wind.” Read the front part, the end, and I’m definitely done with that book.
That’s funny, because I liked “The Hobbit” as a young reader, but I have never been able to get past the first part of the Trilogy of the Ring (or whatever it’s called, sorry).