Alice Munro
I must admit I found this notion very challenging! How on Earth could I make sense of things I wondered, if I just randomly wandered this way and that through a book? Surely a narrative is sequential (yes I realise you can narratively flip between time and places, but the whole thing has been chosen to be presented in a particular way even if you are going back and forth in time).
I wondered what you might lose and then what you might gain if you did that? Perhaps you get a slow roll into the story, different moments of understanding, confusion whilst things don't connect, frustration that things you know happen are only being forecast when you go backwards?
I have no idea what this experience would be like in real life, but it has certainly made me want to try it.
And so I start to think of a book - should I re-read something in this way and see how it feels? Should I start a book I am not sure I care that much about and try it out? Should I choose a highly recommended book and see if this approach offers a good reading?
Still not sure which way to go, or just when, but I must admit my curiosity has been piqued.
This may work for Alice Munro but it seems too clever by half. I believe I would spend too much time trying to puzzle out what I had "missed." I'll stay with the "conventional" way of reading.
ReplyDeleteI think you are probably right Stephanie - I doubt it would work in the long term for me, but I still might try it once just to see what it is like!
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