Suggested by John :
How about a chance to play editor-in-chief? Fill in the blanks:
__________ would have been a much better book if ______________________.
Playing editor of a book is a dream....directing the course of characters, plots, etce. But as I ponder what book I would change, I stop and realize that most books, whether I agree with the components of the book or not, I could not change. Like in Back to the Future....changing one event/character could have an enormous effect on the final outcome. Would Gone with the Wind be the same if Rhett didn't leave Scarlett at the end? Would Pride and Prejudice have been more effective if there hadn't been so much miscommunication and assumption. What would of happened if Alice hadn't followed the rabbit, in Alice in Wonderland.
Now that being said, I recently read one book that had me seething at its completion. It affected me so profoundly that I still feel the rage bubbling when I think about it....
The book I talk about is Bastard out of Carolina by Dorothy Allison.
The experience of Bone are heart-wrenching....but the choices of her mother at the end baffles me. For a mother to choose her "rapist" husband over her child is unforgiveable to me.
So.....Bastard out of Carolina....would have been a much better book if....Anney Boatwright had put her child before everything else. To me it was horrendous that the mom would think that a birth certificate would make it all better for Bone in the end...instead of being there for her daughter whenever she was needed.
For more editor fixing attempts check out Booking Thru Thursday
3 comments:
But if that book ended the way you thought it should, it would have been predictable and maybe a little boring, right? You need the controversy to make it memorable, discussable, etc. and to really work up some emotions from the reader.
Oh, and PS. Sadly that happens in real life pretty frequently, where the mother chooses the molester/offender over their own kid. Sick but true.
Tell me about this! I work for abused children. Mostly girls, who are molested by their own relatives, including fathers and brothers. And the mother supposrts he molester. in most cases. Sad but true.
Here is my BTT post!
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