Quote:
Originally Posted by kennyc
I've tried to read Neuromancer many times and always end up throwing it across the room before the second chapter - same with Ulysses by Joyce. Same with anything recent from Neil Stephenson.
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I agree with this statement. Neuromancer is so overrated, though I really enjoyed some of Gibson's other works, particularly Pattern Recognition. With Stephenson, I loved Snow Crash. Diamond Age, not so much. Recently I tried to read Reamde but coudln't get into it. Don't get me started in Joyce :-) I'll have to try Dhalgren, it has been on my to-read list for like 20 years.
As far as style goes, clunky, poor, simplistic writing is a huge turn off. I find myself re-writing a poorly written book in my head, and soon abandon it. Then again, overly complex, flowery language is just as off-putting. Poor or excessive character development is unappealing also. I need well-drawn characters, but I also need a book to be plot-driven. I live in that middle-brow realm where the prose is sophisticated and polished, yet relatively concise and straightforward, and where the characters are well-developed, but not at the expense of the plot.
Some authors just have a way with words that I just want to eat with a spoon, and would read their works for the prose alone. Some of my favorite prose stylists are Margaret Atwood, Tana French, David Mitchell, and T.C. Boyle.