What to Look for in Fiction.
Novels are a life experience. Any good novel you will go away from having learnt something, having something to really think about and discuss. We don’t just become part of the adventure when we open up to Chapter 1 and start getting to know the characters. We live it ourselves and we learn about ourselves as we read. Any story that has nothing to give is completely lifeless. You know that, whether you enjoy a holiday read or whether you consider yourself and avid reader, all the books you remember have something special in common.
Simply being a page turner might be enough. With simple reads like The Da Vinci Code or Twilight flooding the market, it may seem hard to pinpoint something with depth and significance. You have to look a little harder and dig a little deeper. Despite the popularity of some authors out there, their well known name does not necessarily make them particularly esteemed and you can’t always trust the bookstore recommendations either.
You are probably wondering what you should be looking for. Anyone in the know will tell you that a truly good novel has significance and longevity, taking aspects of society into consideration and making an intelligent comment, anything from religion and politics to psychology and the environment. A good author will at the same time engage the reader with the story, create original and interesting characters and stir debate.
Emily Bronte’s Wuthering Heights is an excellent example of a novel with substance and importance. Like the novels of Dickens, Hardy and Joyce, the works of Emily Bronte are usually considered classics. Other examples are Evelyn Waugh’s Bright Young Things or Cormac McCarthy’s The Road.
All of these novels have substance, intrigue and meaning, important themes we can analyse and apply to our lives. They are a reflection of society and a comment on what’s wrong and what’s right within it. They take the worst and the best parts of us into consideration and build a story around them to offers us an insight into our own or someone else’s history and culture.
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