There are many accompanying emotions when reading a book. Satisfaction, contentment, excitement, anger or annoyance. I’ve recently become reacquainted with my least favorite. Disappointment.
Number one heading up my list is a spin off of “show don’t tell.†Lots of telling, lots of showing, but what the author is telling me and what the author is showing me are two different things. This works fine if, for instance, the hero is telling me he doesn’t care about the heroine, but his actions contradict his words. But what I find disappointing is when the author is telling the reader the heroine has suffered a terrible tragedy, is grieving horribly, and yet her every action contradicts what is supposed to be a main theme.
Another disappointment is the promise of juicy premise. I read the blurb and maybe even an excerpt, and I’m practically salivating. I can’t wait to read the book. This happened a few weeks ago when I went to an author’s website, read an excerpt, and immediately ordered the book. I waited impatiently for it to arrive and as soon as it did, I sat down to read. The story had such marvelous potential. A misjudged and accused heroine. The hero was responsible for her capture. The potential for conflict was terrific. Instead, by the end of the second chapter, not only did the reader know the heroine was innocent, so did the hero, and the villain was also revealed. The book could have ended at chapter three.
There was no reach for the hero. He never had to believe in the heroine absent overwhelming evidence. And the rest of the story was spent in a boring myriad of small talk and a rather implausible investigation.
I’ve said in the past that one of the premises I enjoy is a reunion story. I love when the hero and heroine were involved but fate conspired to separate them, and they are thrown back together years later.
One downside to such stories, however, is that sometimes the author depends on that history and doesn’t show us how the characters fall back in love. (See number one on my list again) I read one a few days ago that involved a rather lengthy separation, and yet, within days of seeing each other again, all was hunky dory and a wedding was planned. Sorry. I didn’t buy it. The only clue I had as to how the heroine felt was when the wedding was going to be delayed, and she expressed disappointment. Heck, I had to go back and reread because at that point, I didn’t even realize there was going to BE a wedding. The hero mentioned the possibility of one, but there was never any hoopla surrounding any sort of a proposal. And certainly no declarations of love.
These are just a few examples I’ve experienced in my most reading stint. I love books, and I love a good story, and disappointment in a novel is, well, disappointing.
What constitutes a “let down†for you when reading a story?
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One of my favorite character types is a novelist heroine, like Kathleen Turner’s character in Romancing the Stone. For the last few years, every novel-writer heroine I encounter has disappointed me. The promise that was made in the blurb “Writer Lucy Lucky is hot on a story when…” is not kept. The writer character could just as easily be a chef or a laundrymat attendant or a airline pilot. She could be anything because there is no attention whatsoever given to her practice of being a writer in a world that is so not about being a writer.
I cannot stand weak dialogue and pages of description. I don’t care for the characters to have such a little arc that I think I’m reading about a schizophrenic heroine. The “I’m angry” and then the hero kisses her/beds her and “They’re in love” type crap. I don’t like reading about the color of the grass, the sky, and everything in-between. The story has to move me and entertain me. Heck, there are days when I’ll take one or the other. Something!
I don’t like the story going out with a whimper. I don’t want a caricature of every alpha hero ever known.
I want good writing. Period.
Grins*
A let-down for me is when a book skillfully builds the conflict, the romance relationship, the tension, the suspense, even the comedy (depending on the style) and then resolves everything in a simple scene — or if there’s a premature resolution.
I’m totally with Mary Stella — I hate contrived endings. Even some of my favorite books I was left scratching my head at how everything came so neatly together. Life is messy. Sometimes loose-ends aren’t neatly wrapped up.
I’m always disappointed in books that gloss over reality. They have a dark premise, but the “grit” isn’t there. I want to smell the urine in the alley where the druggies hang out. I want to see the blood and guts at the crime scene. I want the raw language from the bad guys. I don’t like sanitized writing at all, so when I read a good blurb that promises all the grit and then I don’t get it…grr!
I hate it when the story builds, builds, builds to an edge-of-the-seat read with the hero/heroine at odds and fighting for their lives, then once the villain gets his just dues, the romance is wrapped up in a whirlwind and I’m left scratching my head.
Unbelieveable? Yep. Disappointing? Oh, you betcha.
My biggest let down is often the ending. Sometimes it seems the author just didn’t know what to do! Latest huge let down: The Da Vinci Code. The ending was Terrible (IMNSHO!)
Another let down is characters I simply cannot get attached to. I may like the story, but if I can’t identify with at lease one character, I am disappointed.
Otherwise, I find I’m pretty easy to please, lol!
I feel let down when the characters don’t stay true to themselves, or turn around too quickly. Nice post.
YES! The Davinci code’s ending sucked rocks. I blogged about that title in particular over at Writeminded awhile back. Had such potential and then blech.
Thanks for your site!
I put my step in to your guestbook like I always