What author/story would you describe as “messy” writing, but it works?
Whether it’s the writing style or the plot itself, is there a book you recall that felt like aimless paint splatters on a train wreck, but in a good way? Beautiful/purposeful/organized chaos?
I don’t think Neal Stephenson knows how to write a novel in any preexisting / conventional sense, but the thing he does instead is really fun to read.
DecisiveDinosaur on
I just finished Ed Park’s Same Bed Different Dreams and it felt exactly like that. Felt very messy for the most part but then most of the things i thought were unimportant ended up being important by the end.
Queenofhackenwack on
when it first came out, our library reading group chose ” all the pretty horses” i borrowed the book and got to the second page and was very disturbed by it… IT WAS ONE BIG RUN ON SENTANCE…… then, and, then, and, then, and……i had an incredible urge to grab a blue pencil and correct it….. needless to say, i did not read it…
BonelessMegaBat on
House of Leaves
1404er on
Henry Miller
port_okali on
*American Gods* by Neil Gaiman is not really a well-constructed novel but it sort of works anyway?
frannyzooey1 on
Stephen King’s pacing is sometimes really off but I still have a good time with his books. I just finished Fairy Tale and it was all over the place yet still very enjoyable.
generouscake on
Maybe not “messy” but Lindy West’s essays are kind of written in the way a standup comedian would tell a story/joke, almost like a transcription. I love her voice, its so funny and unique.
NEBook_Worm on
The Long Earth series. It’s almost not even a story, so much as a series of inter connected tales that serve as a study of the long earth itself.
Characters come in and out, with few staying the entire while. Entire potential sources of conflict just sort of…get ignored. The things that do receive focus are often contrived and absurd…
9 Comments
I don’t think Neal Stephenson knows how to write a novel in any preexisting / conventional sense, but the thing he does instead is really fun to read.
I just finished Ed Park’s Same Bed Different Dreams and it felt exactly like that. Felt very messy for the most part but then most of the things i thought were unimportant ended up being important by the end.
when it first came out, our library reading group chose ” all the pretty horses” i borrowed the book and got to the second page and was very disturbed by it… IT WAS ONE BIG RUN ON SENTANCE…… then, and, then, and, then, and……i had an incredible urge to grab a blue pencil and correct it….. needless to say, i did not read it…
House of Leaves
Henry Miller
*American Gods* by Neil Gaiman is not really a well-constructed novel but it sort of works anyway?
Stephen King’s pacing is sometimes really off but I still have a good time with his books. I just finished Fairy Tale and it was all over the place yet still very enjoyable.
Maybe not “messy” but Lindy West’s essays are kind of written in the way a standup comedian would tell a story/joke, almost like a transcription. I love her voice, its so funny and unique.
The Long Earth series. It’s almost not even a story, so much as a series of inter connected tales that serve as a study of the long earth itself.
Characters come in and out, with few staying the entire while. Entire potential sources of conflict just sort of…get ignored. The things that do receive focus are often contrived and absurd…
…and yet, it was a wonderful series to explore.