I’m reading Ghost Wall by Sarah Moss and I think it’s an amazing book except for this one thing. There’s no quote marks or paragraph breaks for dialogue. It all runs together, there will be multiple people speaking in one paragraph with no clear separation. I have no clue why it’s written like this, it’s a very dialogue heavy book and this makes it extremely confusing. Is this a thing in books these days? What is the point of it?
by moss42069
5 Comments
You should read Blood Meridian. I’m surprised there are even periods.
Still life by Sarah Winman is the same! It’s an interesting choice by the writer. Can be very confusing at times for the reader I agree. In the case of still life I thought it added to the poetic prose of the story but for a Sarah moss book…I think that’s a poor choice. Hopefully it’s just a niche fad that doesn’t catch on amongst other writers
News of the World by Paulette Jiles does not have quotation marks, either. There was an adjustment period for me, but I loved the book.
A number of authors do that, if its not for you, read something else.
Cormac McCarthy sort of popularized it. Other people try to do it but are nowhere near as good as he was (and even then it is confusing).