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I’ve been thinking a lot about what makes a novel “good” and have come up with a list of the different kinds of novels I have loved.
1. There are novels I love that are crafted so well I have to try really hard to find any fault in them.
2. There are novels I adore even if I am confused or unconvinced by an implausible plot, but I love the way the author puts words together and their ability to describe things, people, feelings in a way that makes my heart sing.
I have loved novels just because of one single compelling, loveable character. Even if the rest of them are annoying. I have loved novels with annoying characters.
I have loved novels whose endings I have hated.
I have loved novels with boring middles, the ones I muddled through and didn’t love immediately but haven’t stopped thinking about days, weeks after they ended.
I have loved novels that I have previously left unfinished.
I have loved good novels and the ones I know could have used a good edit.
I think all readers are looking for something different in a book — to entertain them, to make them smarter, to pass the time. What I’ve realised I look for is a book where the author has conveyed something that strikes me as true. And then I find I can be forgiving of the rest.
And by ‘true’ I mean anything that moves my heart (as cliched as that may sound).
