Customer Reviews

13 Ways of Looking at the Novel

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

The first half of the book is a philosophical/intellectual discussion of different aspects of a novel (point of view, plot, story type, etc) along with some historical consideration of how the "novel" format has developed over time. Smiley seems to get off-track in parts of this section, and I found myself getting bored from time to time as she expounded too much on a chapter's thesis.

The second half of the book is really awesome. A compendium of 101 novels, with a 1-3 page synopsis of why the novel is important. It's a nice reference for choosing a "great" book to read without resorting to a high school curriculum list. Beware, Smiley goes into detail about plot, so there are spoilers in her descriptions of the novels.

I read mostly non-fiction and view novels as overly descriptive pieces for people who believe in storytelling as an Art with a capital A. After reading over 100 pages of this book I realize I've been sitting on a high horse of my own. My opinion of the novel was narrow and simplistic. Smiley makes a place for every sort of novel and author at her table, without negative judgment, and it makes for interesting talk. Her ideas are lively and interesting. She really opened my eyes and could have easily titled the book "Infinite Ways of Looking At the Novel". This book is going to get me back to reading more novels. I never expected to have that reaction to this book. Indeed, I probably started it looking to bolster my low opinion of novelists.

In assigning three stars to this book I may be misleading the reader. For those attuned to Jane Smiley's sensibility, this will be a five-star book; for those who are not it will be a one-star book. This is not a study of the novel as form so much as it is what the title infers--ways of looking at the novel. As such it is more personal (some would say idiosyncratic) and, as inferred above, of varying degrees of usefulness.

The book actually attempts to do several things at once: a) explore key aspects of novelistic fiction; b) offer advice on the writing of novelistic fiction; c) record personal experience with regard to the writing of specific novelistic fiction; and d) discuss 100 novels. It is thus, by turns, a scholarly book, a how-to book and a reference book.

The discussions of novelistic fiction are interesting. They are particularly interesting because they are out of the critical mainstream. This is not necessarily a bad thing, since previous scholarship canalizes discussion and, in its way, narrows the imagination. Jane Smiley's reflections, e.g., on the origins of the novel are, as a result, quite different from those of Watt, McKeon, Hunter, Doody, et al. who tell a very different story than the story told here. Most scholars will find Smiley's comments naïve and uninformed though not uninteresting and not without their uses.

The how-to sections of the book are also interesting, though they are not as systematic as one would expect in a how-to book. Aspiring novelists will enjoy Smiley's anecdotes, her encouragement and her wisdom. Nevertheless, they are still likely to need a more consciously hands-on book like Scott Meredith's.

The discussions of the 100 novels are unsystematic. They consist of reflections, not discrete, consistent bodies of information. Thus they make for an engaging `read' but they do not serve the purposes that reference books serve. The remarks are somewhat idiosyncratic and, hence, potentially valuable. At other times they are remarkably naïve. Two small examples: Smiley does not have a developed sense of genre. Thus, she discusses Wuthering Heights and Moby-Dick as novels rather than (as many would) romances. This is fairly basic stuff to the professoriate, Frye 101 if you will. "Tales" are different from "short stories," for example, and lumping the two together leads to problematic conclusions. Second, Smiley has strong views which she does not hesitate to inject into her book. Strong views are fine, but they prove problematic when they distort discourse. In her discussion of Conrad, e.g., she attributes the attitudes of Conrad's narrator to Conrad himself. In the case in question we are not talking about an implied narrator, but a very carefully constructed, independent narrator, one who appears in other works of Conrad, a narrator Conrad discusses and describes as an independent creation. Confusing a narrator's experiences and views with those of the author is a very basic error, the sort of thing that one learns in English 101. I can only assume that she has been blinded by her personal views and that this is a momentary lapse.

Bottom line: never dull, often insightful, but not for all tastes and not for readers with specific needs seeking specific information.

"13 Ways of Looking at the Novel" by Jane Smiley was very informative to me as an avid reader. It provided in-depth information on how to read a novel more closely, in addition to bringing my attention to various literary items in books that I had read but missed.

The first half of the book opens your eyes to the development of a novel; including plot, point of view, and character development. However, sometimes Ms. Smiley when a little overboard in her analysis of a novel's structure. One of the main reasons I give this book four-stars instead of five-stars is that Ms. Smiley tended to repeat various items regarding certain novels, which you can ascertain are some of her favorites.

The second half of the book, which is a comprehensive summary of 101 novels she read, is exceptional and is worth the price of the book. This section has prompted me to read or re-read some of the books, even though she tends to tell you want the book's plot in her summary. Moreover, her extensive vocabulary has provided an impetus for me to add these lively words to my vocabulary. Ms. Smiley's descriptions make you want to grab the book and read it any way.

If you have ever wanted to write a book and need some guidance on the process, this is the book. In addition, if you are a reader and want to know more about how a book is written and the characteristics and symmetry of books, this is the book. I hope that Ms. Smiley does another book of this type in the future.

Contrary to the opinion expressed by the previous reviewer, I found the first section of the book, a detailed and personable analysis of the structure and development of the novel as a literary form over time, to be informative, provocative and amusing, while the second section, a compilation of far too brief and schematic reviews of 101 novels, seemed trite and unhelpful (in fact, the comments and quotations about those novels that Ms. Smiley intersperses in the first section to illustrate her arguments are often more stimulating and insightful than the specific reviews). As a result, I would recommend this book highly to anyone keen on becoming a writer or learning more about the inner workings of the novel, but not to those who are looking simply for reading lists or book-club suggestions.

Ps. The title refers to the beautiful poem by Wallace Stevens, "Thirteen ways of looking at a blackbird."

My sense is that this book is best suited to precisely no one. The literary elite can find much more sophisticated and scholarly analyses of what a novel is. College students (and indeed most readers) will get lost in the references to novels they haven't read. And would-be novelists will find this text too rambling to make much practical use of. Personally, I feel frustrated on all three counts.

First, I find that the book does not provide an adequate history or analysis of the "novel" as an object. Second, I found myself quite often gasping to make sense of references to a great many novels I haven't read. And third, as someone writing a novel, I found that for my use the book to has only a handful of nuts and just a few bolts. And finally, Smiley's paragraphs, chapters, and thoughts felt disorganized, as if written in a brainstorm, and without the advent of thorough editing. It is, in other words, a lousy read. If, that is, you tried to read it straight through.

Those things said, I might suggest that you buy this book. Why? The second half of the book contains 101 novel reviews by Smiley. Unlike the first half of the book, her reviews are well-written and fascinating. She neatly sums up a book, and gives her take on why a given novel works, falters, or fails. Whether you read her reviews of books you know or books you've yet to read, you'll enjoy these punchy 2-3 pagers. She left me hungry to read many of the novels on her list. These reviews alone are worth the price of the book.

Another reason you might buy this book is if you are an aspiring writer of fiction. The two chapters entitled "A Novel of Your Own" are--though not terribly cohesive--well worth taking a peek at. For the same reason the final chapter about her own experience writing one of her own novels helps to bring a human face to a process that is sometimes mystified and aloof.

I suggest, then, that you lower your expectations, skip the first 200 pages, and plan to read only the parts that interest you. Although I can't recommend the first 9 chapters to anyone, chapters 10, 11, and 12 provide 65 pages of interest to fiction writers. You probably won't want to read all of the last 300 pages--the book reviews--but surely you'll enjoy reading a good many of Smiley's quick and cunning takes. Buy this scattered book, and read what of it what you like.

Very interesting. Smiley has refreshing opinions on how novels are written and how they achieve their effects -- such as the relative entertainment value of the first-person narrator vs. the omniscient narrator, etc. It's a very user-friendly, unpretentious analysis. She also offers two chapters on how to write a novel, which is pretty generous.