Getting past a slow or boring start

[charlatti]

Are you good at sticking with a book when it starts slowly or has a dull beginning? I often hear books described as being good once you get past the beginning. It's rare for me to want to pick up a book if I know part of it will be a slog. (It makes me want to tell the author to go back and make the whole thing good. Edit, yo!)

[rootbeerfloat]

I usually finish books no matter what. But if the beginning is slow or boring, I'll read it with a negative attitude, and it has to be pretty awesome to recover from that first impression.

[msmerymac]

It depends. It would have to be realllllly boring or bad for me to give up. I've given up on maybe 5 books in my adult life. So usually I don't consider not finishing. It's just one book, and I can usually finish a book in less than a week. And then I have something I can maybe complain about when people ask me.

[aurora]

I frequently read books that have a slow start. I don't think it's always because the author needs to edit. For me, what I really love about reading is getting to "know" the characters, and this probably sounds corny but I think sometimes it just takes some time for that to happen.

I've gotten better in recent years, but I rarely put down a book without finishing, so I've had a lot of practice working through books that don't really capture my engagement.

[charlatti]

Mar 21, 2014 9:15:04 GMT -5 aurora said:

I frequently read books that have a slow start. I don't think it's always because the author needs to edit. For me, what I really love about reading is getting to "know" the characters, and this probably sounds corny but I think sometimes it just takes some time for that to happen.

Good point, and I suppose I don't actually have a problem with slow starts for character-building or plot-building purposes in most books. I'm thinking more about books such as Outlander or The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, where everyone says how boring it is until you're a good 100 pages in. I haven't read either of those to say whether there is a purpose to the slow start, because the description makes me less inclined to give them a try.

So I probably should have asked a different question: do you avoid books if you hear that they have a boring beginning?

[aurora]

Mar 21, 2014 10:12:13 GMT -5 charlatti said:

Mar 21, 2014 9:15:04 GMT -5 aurora said:

I frequently read books that have a slow start. I don't think it's always because the author needs to edit. For me, what I really love about reading is getting to "know" the characters, and this probably sounds corny but I think sometimes it just takes some time for that to happen.

Good point, and I suppose I don't actually have a problem with slow starts for character-building or plot-building purposes in most books. I'm thinking more about books such as Outlander or The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, where everyone says how boring it is until you're a good 100 pages in. I haven't read either of those to say whether there is a purpose to the slow start, because the description makes me less inclined to give them a try.

So I probably should have asked a different question: do you avoid books if you hear that they have a boring beginning?

Hmm, I'm really really glad I read both of your examples so I'm trying to think if there's some other explanation I wasn't thinking of.  Actually, I felt like the issue with Outlander is that Claire hadn't met Jamie yet in the first part, but the entire story changes after they meet and I think it's a really fast read.  Girl with the Dragon Tattoo is probably an issue of bad editing (or some people say bad translation), but the series goes by very quickly.

Something like Anne Patchett's State of Wonder (which I also love) is an example of a book that takes a while to get into and never really speeds up per se, but ends up being so thought-provoking it's completely worth the read.

The more I try to talk through this, though, the more I think I should just stop with "no" (I don't avoid books if I hear they take a while to get into), and many of them end up being among my favorite stories.

[rootbeerfloat]

Mar 21, 2014 10:12:13 GMT -5 charlatti said:

Mar 21, 2014 9:15:04 GMT -5 aurora said:

I frequently read books that have a slow start. I don't think it's always because the author needs to edit. For me, what I really love about reading is getting to "know" the characters, and this probably sounds corny but I think sometimes it just takes some time for that to happen.

Good point, and I suppose I don't actually have a problem with slow starts for character-building or plot-building purposes in most books. I'm thinking more about books such as Outlander or The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, where everyone says how boring it is until you're a good 100 pages in. I haven't read either of those to say whether there is a purpose to the slow start, because the description makes me less inclined to give them a try.

So I probably should have asked a different question: do you avoid books if you hear that they have a boring beginning?

I'm hoping people offer feedback about Outlander. I haven't started the series, though it seems like something I would like, because I hear that they start slow (and are long).

[aurora]

Mar 21, 2014 14:08:07 GMT -5 rootbeerfloat said:

Mar 21, 2014 10:12:13 GMT -5 charlatti said:

Good point, and I suppose I don't actually have a problem with slow starts for character-building or plot-building purposes in most books. I'm thinking more about books such as Outlander or The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, where everyone says how boring it is until you're a good 100 pages in. I haven't read either of those to say whether there is a purpose to the slow start, because the description makes me less inclined to give them a try.

So I probably should have asked a different question: do you avoid books if you hear that they have a boring beginning?

I'm hoping people offer feedback about Outlander. I haven't started the series, though it seems like something I would like, because I hear that they start slow (and are long).

I really like the Outlander series.  The books are long, but I gravitate toward long series made up of long books (Wheel of Time, Dark Tower, Song of Ice and Fire/Game of Thrones), so that's a plus instead of a minus in my opinion.

The other main reason I've heard for people disliking Outlander is the violence, especially in the first book, and sometimes sexual in nature.  I imagine there are some significant triggers.

[rootbeerfloat]

Mar 21, 2014 15:44:06 GMT -5 aurora said:

Mar 21, 2014 14:08:07 GMT -5 rootbeerfloat said:

I'm hoping people offer feedback about Outlander. I haven't started the series, though it seems like something I would like, because I hear that they start slow (and are long).

I really like the Outlander series.  The books are long, but I gravitate toward long series made up of long books (Wheel of Time, Dark Tower, Song of Ice and Fire/Game of Thrones), so that's a plus instead of a minus in my opinion.

The other main reason I've heard for people disliking Outlander is the violence, especially in the first book, and sometimes sexual in nature.  I imagine there are some significant triggers.

Like rape? I won't read the Dragon Tattoo books because of the sexual violence, but I read vampire porn, so my line is fuzzy (or I'm a hypocrite, lol). If the violence is war-related or typical of a time period, I can probably handle it.

Also, length can be a problem because I'm an impatient reader if I'm engrossed in a book and tend to ignore my work, husband and children

[msmerymac]

Mar 21, 2014 14:08:07 GMT -5 rootbeerfloat said:

Mar 21, 2014 10:12:13 GMT -5 charlatti said:

Good point, and I suppose I don't actually have a problem with slow starts for character-building or plot-building purposes in most books. I'm thinking more about books such as Outlander or The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, where everyone says how boring it is until you're a good 100 pages in. I haven't read either of those to say whether there is a purpose to the slow start, because the description makes me less inclined to give them a try.

So I probably should have asked a different question: do you avoid books if you hear that they have a boring beginning?

I'm hoping people offer feedback about Outlander. I haven't started the series, though it seems like something I would like, because I hear that they start slow (and are long).

I thought I would love Outlander because I love history/historical fiction and I love Scotland. I don't mind long books (I've read Game of Thrones, John Jakes, Harry Potter of course, etc). Sometimes a nice long, epic series is just good for the soul... or at least good for a year's worth of vacations and road trips. 

But I felt like Outlander NEVER picked up. I was half way through when I realized I wasn't enjoying it at all. Throw in the violence (physical domestic violence and sexual violence - which I've been told means I "just don't get it") and I didn't really get anything out of it. I remember talking about it when I was half way done and people told me, "keep going!" At that point, I hadn't considered giving up, actually, lol. 

But a large amount of people here love Outlander. A handful here don't. I can't really tell you which one you'll be! I mean, I guess if you start it and dislike it for reasons OTHER than it being slow, don't bother continuing.