On suspense
Aug. 5th, 2010 10:17 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
eve_primeI really don’t like it that much. When I’m reading a book, even a book that’s written at a nice, gentle pace, I tend to read too quickly, just to get to the end and find out what happens. Then, if I like it, I’ll reread it, often right away, to enjoy the writing and the descriptions without the nagging pressure of the suspense pushing me onward. On the other hand, I do want the normal experience of reading the book; I don’t want to know what happens prematurely.
But sometimes...
Today I started reading one of Mary Stewart’s first books, with the peculiar title of Madam, Will You Talk?. She writes thrillers, fairly tame ones for the most part, but this one, yikes, by about page 60 it was already too intense. So I cheated. I looked at the last page to reassure myself that everything would be nicely resolved, and yes, it was. Intriguingly so, even. And now I expect that I’ll have a lot more pleasure from reading the rest of the book than I would had I not looked ahead.
But I think most people would say this is “wrong,” wouldn’t they? Do you, my LJ friends, ever do this?
(One might ask, why would I even read thrillers or mysteries if I don’t like suspense? Mostly because for the ones I do read, I’m enjoying the characters and the settings, I suppose.)
But sometimes...
Today I started reading one of Mary Stewart’s first books, with the peculiar title of Madam, Will You Talk?. She writes thrillers, fairly tame ones for the most part, but this one, yikes, by about page 60 it was already too intense. So I cheated. I looked at the last page to reassure myself that everything would be nicely resolved, and yes, it was. Intriguingly so, even. And now I expect that I’ll have a lot more pleasure from reading the rest of the book than I would had I not looked ahead.
But I think most people would say this is “wrong,” wouldn’t they? Do you, my LJ friends, ever do this?
(One might ask, why would I even read thrillers or mysteries if I don’t like suspense? Mostly because for the ones I do read, I’m enjoying the characters and the settings, I suppose.)