Something you should know about me as a reader is that I am a completionist at heart. A series I lose interest in by book three, I’ll power through the last two books. That accidental middle grade novel I started, just give me four hours and I’ll finish it. It wasn’t until this last year, while looking an my endlessly growing ‘to be read’-TBR for those in the know- list, that I realized that life is too short to read books that I’m not enjoying. Hence, my rules to DNF were born.
For those of you who don’t know, DNF stands for ‘Did Not Finish’. (This is not unique to the book community. It is a sports term too.) Basically, if something about the book isn’t vibing with me-if I’m not losing myself in the pages-I’ll decide to stop reading instead of pushing through to the end. Every reader has to feel out their own reasons and rules for when they decide to officially call it and DNF a book. One of my rules is hard and fast, but the others have a little more leniency. All are subjected to various exceptions.
The Rules
1. The 3 or 15 Rule
This is my one hard and fast rule. It came about through a combination of the writing classes I took in college and my own observations while reading. It breaks down like this: If I am still not invested in the plot, characters, or conflict by the end of the third chapter or by 15% of the way through the book (whichever is longer) I will DNF it. This covers most of the set up for the entirety of the novel, so if I reach this point and I’m not loving it, it’s not worth it.
2. The MC Hammer
This rule is easy. If I cannot stand the main character (the MC), and by halfway through the book there is nothing redeeming enough about them, the plot, or the side characters…I will not finish the book. The only exception to this rule is if there is quite literally nothing else around for me to read. For example: while stuck in a twelve-and-a-half-hour layover in the Dallas airport during a massive rainstorm where you a sharing the book with your older sister because you finished all three of the other books you had between the two of you and this was a last, last, last resort. (It was painful, but we did it.)
3. The “Don’t talk to me like that”
This is the most subjective rule on my list in relation to my own choices. The gist of this rule is that if I dislike the way inner or spoken dialogue is written I will DNF the book. It is hard to explain exactly what I mean with this rule because some times a specific tone or language of dialogue will work for me in one book but will turn me right off of another. The best I can do is provide the example of the last book that was DNFed due to this rule. The duel POV romance novel had both characters being internally and externally misogynistic in such a blatant way that I had to put the book down before I even reached the end of the third chapter.
4. The 2 Month Turnaround
This is the most recent addition to my DNF rules because it had never happened before. The rule is easy to understand, if it has taken me longer than two months to finish a book, given there are no extenuating circumstances, I will DNF it. Do you want to know the story that forced me to call it quits? Well let me tell you…
D is also for Dracula
That’s right folks, it was the broody vampire created by Bram Stoker that did me in. If only it was in the literal sense instead of the metaphorical one. I’d be able to read every book imaginable if I was around for eternity.
I have always been a big proponent of reading classics. I like to see where certain tropes, ideas, and writing tactics originated from and dissect why we still deign to read them today. Reading books like Jane Eyre and Emma have gone well for me. I adored Little Women, the first true classic I ever read, and found most of the books I was told to read for English class in school enjoyable. My preferred way to consume classics is by audiobook. Something about listening to people speak the old English writing aloud makes is easier for me to fall into understanding it faster. This was the track I took with Dracula.
Here’s where things started to go awry. Dracula is a 21-hour long audiobook. This is not lengthy by my personal reading standards, but it is reaching up there. The beginning of the book, while slow, was tolerable. By hour 3 Dracula was no longer in the picture and things started to take a turn to the monotonous. I know that dramatic irony is a great writing technique but before reading this I had no idea that it could be overdone. This entire book, the ENTRIE BOOK, is just one case of dramatic irony after another. Top this off with a lack of the title character actually appearing for 95% of the story and a healthy dose of misogyny at every opportunity, and it’s a wonder that I made it as far into the book as I did.
So why did I? I was only 5 hours away from the end of this tragic reading and that’s when I called it quits. What took me so long?
The only explanation I have: it’s a classic. I was willing to suffer (and honestly really despise every one of the 78 times I picked up the book throughout trying to read it) because I felt a weird requirement as a self-proclaimed lover of books to finish it. I have learned from this misguided experience that no matter how well renowned, how major a building block, how “classic” a book is reported to be, if I am not enjoying it, I don’t have to bloody read it. A book, no matter how old, is not always going to be for everyone and that is perfectly alright. Classics in particular are often force-fed to us as above the rest because of their perceived influence on the modern literary guild. However true that influence may be, it doesn’t mean you can’t dislike them just the same as any other book. And I honestly hated Dracula.
Now, I’d love your opinion. Have you read Dracula? If so, what are your thoughts. What classics do you love? Have you come across any that you just couldn’t finish? They obviously aren’t all gems.
Until next time,
Keep wondering and stay wandering.
Comentários