While reading certain highly emotional books recently, I've felt the need to have a little discussion! And it's been so long since I've thought up a discussion post, I figured it's long past time!
Something that I find interesting and worth defending is when we read books that bring out some sort of strong emotion and then we base the "goodness" of that book on the emotion. For instance, if the book made you MAD, do you then hate the book because of it? If the book made you cry buckets, do you hate the book because of it? If the book made you CRAZY with frustration, do you hate the book and deem it a bad one?
Yes, the question here is.... do we judge a book good or bad based on the emotions we feel while reading it?
My argument is that a book is good if it causes strong emotions. And that in fact, this is the very definition of a good book. I mean, of course you can still say you liked it or didn't like it, but I'm hoping you'd still say it's a GOOD book. Am I making sense here? That the very fact that it stirs up strong emotions and causes some sort of reaction for the reader makes it be a good book, and one that you should talk up and recommend around.
So on the other hand, if a book is emotionally dead, perhaps that's a bad book. Now, I'm a little squirmy even using the terms good and bad for this discussion because it's all so relative, right? But I think you get what I'm saying here, yes?
At any rate, I find myself always defending books when people say the reason they didn't like them was because of a certain emotion. And I'll always say... but, but, but that's what made this book so GOOD! Now, I don't know if that's right or wrong that I do this defending thing, so that's what I'm wondering here.
What do you think?
There are definitely books that I have read over the years that evoked strong feelings that were not the warm and fuzzy feelings but I still enjoyed the book or even consider it one of my favorites. One book that comes to mind is Lolita. I don't like the main character in the book, but I thought it was well written and the writing pulls for strong feelings in me. For me anyway, I don't need to like the main character in a book as long as he/she is well written.
ReplyDeletePamela: Good points. And I agree that some books are not warm and fuzzy but I still think they're good. Grapes of Wrath comes to mind for me!
DeleteWhat a great topic for discussion, I wish I had thought of it. I think I understand what you are saying. I absolutely judge a book by my emotional reaction to it whether it be joy or sorrow. An emotional reaction means I was engaged in the story. Without that reaction a book can still be good, but its not likely to be one that I'm going to rave about and remember in the long term.
ReplyDeleteTeresa: Exactly! You said just what I'm thinking here!
DeleteI believe that I understand what you are saying or asking here. I love a book that brings out some type of emotion in my while I am reading. That to me is a good book. It does not depend on what type of emotion the book brings out, so long as it made me feel something. For me to judge a book bad takes a lot and then it is generally the fact that I did not get the storyline or something else about the book that I did not appreciate.
ReplyDeleteCarol: Right. I love it when books make me feel, no matter the emotion.
DeleteFor me, the distinction comes in what elicited the emotion. Is the book making me feel irritable/angry/crazy because it is weirdly paced/contains grammar errors/lacks character development, etc.? OR, is the book making me feel irritable/angry/crazy because that it was it intended to do. If it's the latter, I would definitely concur that it is a good (read: successful) book, regardless of whether I liked it or not.
ReplyDeleteExcellent topic for discussion. :)
Jessica: I like your term successful. That's what I mean here! And yes, I totally agree with your distinction about WHAT it is that causes the emotion. I guess I'm thinking mostly the heart of the story here.
DeleteWhat if a book makes you mad because it was so dumb? Can I still call it bad?
ReplyDeleteKami: Yes of course! But then you have remember that what you thought dumb someone else loved! :) That's where this discussion gets so very tricky.
DeleteI agree with that just because what you've read made you feel angry means the book is bad, that seems infantile to me. but it is strange that it does not work conversely: that just because it made you giddy means it is good?
ReplyDeleteYou have me trying to remember if I've ever read something that did not elicit some sort of emotion, even if said emotional response was "boredom"... boredom is not good for me... I read a few short stories for a friend looking for feedback the other day and I felt neither here nor there about them, but that didn't mean they were bad, they just were not the sort of the stories that I feel very strongly about. It was good clean writing, I suppose that can be exciting...
a good, thought-provoking post
~L (omphaloskepsis)
L: Good question! About the giddy thing. I say yes. And I say that boredom isn't a true emotion for this discussion! Boredom is what I'm thinking when I say a book that has no emotional reaction from the reader at all. Not good. :) (At least for whoever was bored by it!)
DeleteIt depends what the strong emotion is, Suey. If I'm angry at a character because they are doing something out of character, or I feel manipulated by the author to feel something, then I get quite upset and don't like the book. If the emotion is from within the story, from natural actions of the characters, then I enjoy it because it was real, authentic, part of the story. Although if I get very angry from the story I do end up having to pause and sort out what's going on. Good questions, Suey!
ReplyDeleteSusan: Being manipulated to feel something is not a good thing and something I've noticed people talking a lot about lately. Another good discussion idea!
DeleteGreat question! I can think of a recent read (Gone Girl) that left me so disgusted that I still don't know if I can say if I like the book. I think the author did a great job creating such strong emotions and a twisted story that had me guessing the entire time, and I commend her for this. BUT, and in this case, a big one ... I just felt disgusted at the end of it. And dirty. Ugh!
ReplyDeleteAnother example is The Road. I felt like it was such a hopeless story, but it was so beautifully written. I'm torn. Talent is proven in each, but I don't know if I can call it good or bad.
Tif: Ah... feeling disgusted? Yeah, no there's a good question. I would say it probably did it's job to make you feel that way, but now, you aren't going to leave feeling good about the book at all. Hmmmm.... an emotion I haven't feel much with reading... but this does NOT want to make me read this book! (I've avoided this book because this what I hear most people saying. Yeah, not my thing!)
DeleteBut The Road! Now I would say.. good book... because of the emotion there! Great example of what I'm talking about here.
Tif I felt the same about Gone Girl and just didn't enjoy it like the majority. I felt manipulated.
DeleteI agree with a lot of the comments here: it all has to do with why I'm feeling a strong emotion. If I'm irritated because the book has terrible editing or no glossary when it's needed (see my recent post about Whale Rider, ha ha) that's different from feeling frustrated at what a character is doing, or because I can't figure out the storyline and am all confused at the end. Often that makes me want to dive right into the book again to figure it all out! The ones that I consider actually "bad" are those that are so boring and at the same time incomprehensible or nonsensical that I just lack all desire to read them. They often don't even get mentioned because I see what's coming and put them aside after ten, twenty pages or so.
ReplyDeleteJeane: Yep, I think everyone here has made some great conclusions about the WHY thing. Awesome stuff to think about.
DeleteSuey, I totally agree with you, if emotions were bought out the author has done a great job.
ReplyDeleteI will say there is one book I really did not like and it is a very popular book, the emotion I went through was because I felt manipulated and it would never happen. I gave the book a 3 but wanted to throw it across the room. I still am a little guilty on not giving higher rating but I can't get past the manipulation part. I did have discussions etc about it and this was 2 years ago I believe. Still a tiny bit guilty lol
BTW, Still Missing is the book I am thinking about, but Gone Girl was another.
DeleteMarce: Yes, manipulation is for sure a sort of emotion that everyone is NOT liking at all here. And maybe those books we can call bad.
DeleteI would agree, the best books always evoke emotion. Books that don't require investment from me are usually forgotten rather quickly.
ReplyDeleteKelley: It's so true. Emotion is the key I think.
DeleteMy favorite books are the ones that make me cry buckets. I can even dislike the entire book up to that point that it makes me cry and then it's all of a sudden the best book ever. ;) But absolutely I agree with you that a book should touch the reader emotionally. If it's "emotionally dead" then I find it is forgetable and a book I don't recommend to others. Now ones that touch on negative emotions? Hmmm--I think it makes it good for discussions, like book club, but I don't know if that necessarily makes it a good book? Though in this discussion "good" is highly subjective!
ReplyDeleteTrish: I like the crying books too! And yes, good is so subjective. But I don't know what other word to use!
DeleteI absolutely agree - a book can definitely still be good even if it still up strong negative emotions in you. Of course, I'm assuming here that you're not talking about getting done with a book and wanting to throw it against the wall, but rather something or someone in the book stirring up those strong emotions.
ReplyDeleteLisa: I've wanted to throw a book at the wall, and I keep thinking about that book and wondering, was it a good book? Even if it made me crazy? I would probably have to say yes!
DeleteMmmm, I agree with this all the way. I seem to write books and stories that piss some readers off to the point that I've even had them tell me in a book group that they hated my stories. It takes a lot of anger/passion to admit that face to face to the author, I think. I just chalked it up to the fact that I was able to inspire such passion in a reader more than nothing at all. I've always thought "that has got to mean something, right?"
ReplyDeleteMichelle: And that's what makes your books good, is this passion and the deep feelings you've caused. I love it!
DeleteIf a book makes me annoyed or angry at the characters, I will often dislike that. To me, it feels so pointless when things don't work out because the characters are being stupid. Although The Book Thief was an exception to this and I might have to rethink this opinion, for the most part, I don't like books that make me sad either. I certainly wouldn't say those books are bad books! But I read to learn things and/or to come away feeling happy and entertained. That means that books that leave me feeling sad or angry are usually not my favorites.
ReplyDeleteDoingDewey: They may not be your favorite, those sad and angry books, but if you FELT something it means it was generally a good book... even if you didn't like it. Right? :)
DeleteGood question. I think if an author can make you feel, then they did their job. I may not like the book, but I'd definitely give it credit for what it did. I don't think I've ever hated a book because it made me feel a certain way. Sure, it may have been hard to finish, but I've never hated a book because of emotion. I've hated books because the plot was boring, the characters didn't engage me, the writing sucked, I felt manipulated (not genuinely feeling a certain way if that makes sense), or there was too much swearing.
ReplyDeleteNow, movies on the other hand, I have hated because they made me feel a certain way. I've hated them because they made me feel gross or sick or scared. Sure, I used to watch scary movies all the time, but when I saw Sinister, it scared me too much. It did its job, but it did it too well and I hated it for it.
I know I'm a contradiction, but I get what you're saying and for the most part I don't base my like/dislike on my emotions ... I think. ;)
Jenni: Yep, exactly what I was trying to say!
DeleteThanks everyone for a great discussion and awesome comments! I need to do this more often! :)
ReplyDelete