A Point of No Return

[Dark Muse]

A while back I wrote this post about this book I have been reading, in which I asked at what point should a person give up on a book, and just how much of a chance should a book be given before deciding to set it aside, because I was having a dilemma about the book I had been reading.

In a short recap, the prologue of the book was quite interesting, I really enjoyed it, found the story engaging and the characters interesting, but after the prologue, with first "official" chapter of the book, it suddenly came to a screeching halt and turned into an extremely dull book that I found difficult to follow.

So I was half ready to throw the book against a wall mid-way through the first chapter, but than a part of me didn't want to give up on it, in hopes it would return to the story that was brought up in the prologue and pick up pace again if I just got over the bump.

And from the replies of others I was encouraged to give the book more of a chance before giving up on it.

Well now update to the situation. This is one of those books which has really epically long chapters, and so I have only just finished the 3rd chapter, but am already more than half way through the book.

So now I pretty much can see that the book is not going to improve, or get interesting again, my general impression is that I am not going to find myself suddenly feeling that it was worth it to stick with it.

But now I am also left with the feeling that, it would seem as if it would be a bigger waste of my time to stop at this point after what I have already invested into it.

It kind of feels like if someone was watching a movie and they waited until there was only 30 mins left and than decided to get up and walk out on it.

I do not think I am going to feel at all rewarded if I do slog through till the end, but on the other hand if I stop now I am going to feel as if it was an even bigger waste of my time.

[hillwalker]

It's not 'Catch 22' you're reading is it?? [just a joke BTW - that's a great book].

Personally I would ditch it and count your lucky stars you can turn to a fresh book and devote the time you would have wasted to better use.

There are probably only 2 or 3 books I have started to read (on the strength of publicity or word of mouth) and absolutely hated. The last, about ten years ago, was Robert Heinlein's 'I Will Fear No Evil'. The story was intriguing but the writing style proved to be unreadable and I was glad to surrender after the first 50 pages or so.

Considering that I probably read 2 or 3 books a week I suppose that's not a bad score - but definitely, DM, move on and put it down to (bad) experience.

[Dark Muse]

It's not 'Catch 22' you're reading is it?? [just a joke BTW - that's a great book]..

Haha no, I loved Catch-22. It is a somewhat obscure French book called Under the Sun of Satan. They say don't judge a book by it's cover. In this case, don't judge a book by its title. It sounded way more intriguing than it is.

[Jozanny]

I am not sure what advice you are looking for DM, as we already have a "not finishing the book" thread, and it is difficult to judge by others personal decisions.

I have a few examples, like Gaddis The Recognitions, if you want to talk about slogs. I could not tell anyone why this novel is worth the long haul; yes, it is about authenticity of art versus reproduction, but maybe Gaddis intended the novel as a joke, because it is a thousand pages of reflections on the nature of fraud and forgery. I finished it while I was still younger and opened the first chapter again over the summer, which is a fairly tragic-comic back story, but don't know why I need travel it again.

I deleted one *Christian genre* book which seemed a sloppy excuse for bad supernatural story telling, but decided to give Brandilyn Collins the benefit of the doubt when I need something light and well paced for pillow time--I did not quite realize Amazon was offering me free Christian entertainment literature--but reviews suggest she takes her work a little more seriously, so I will see what she has to say. :rolleyes:

Experiencing a difficult, or flawed, text can be worth it or not, depends on the reader.

[Dark Muse]

I suppose more than anything the issue is, once you have already advanced so far into a book, would quiting a book after surpassing the half-way point prove to be an even greater waste of time spent on it, than pushing through to the end.

[Jozanny]

By Bernanos? I found Under Satan's Sun @ Amazon, and the paperback is just under 45 USD; if you sparked my interest it will have to wait, as the price is steep.

[Dark Muse]

By Bernanos? I found Under Satan's Sun @ Amazon, and the paperback is just under 45 USD; if you sparked my interest it will have to wait, as the price is steep.

Yes, that is the one. After I first started reading it I tried finding more information about it and the author, and the title has been translated in a bunch of different ways.

[Jozanny]

It probably would appeal to me, but I need to sell some work before I could order it, as it would take up an academic text slot; maybe I'll check the library.

I still wouldn't know how to advise you though; maybe put it aside for a year or two.