 |
Wie geht's?
Arts review part 2 (after Empire Of Light): Birnam Wood.
Warning - if you intend to read the novel avoid this post!
Okay - I did warn you!
The ending of a story is crucial, is it not?
Well, it is for me. I used to hate it when young students would invariably end a piece of writing with, and then I woke up. Nasty!
Serious novelists should know better.
But, from time to time, I read a book and all can be bright and shiny and brilliant and then the ending can be bleugh.
In a nutshell that sums up my reaction to Birnam Wood.
As a reader, or viewer, I need a pay-off for the bad guys. Blame all of those westerns I ingested as a kid. The black hats always got their comeuppance in the end. In Star Wars, Luke prevails in the end (twice). I need the hero to achieve success on her or his quest. That's the usual trope in an adventure story and I've been conditioned to expect it.
In Game Of Thrones, I gave up watching when a season long torture sequence had no pay-off. Not cool. Not happening.
Eleanor Cotton tries for a similar no pay-off trick in Birnam Wood and it doesn't work. All the goodies die and only one deeply flawed protagonist who I didn't care for much anyway escapes to maybe set in train some comeuppance. Maybe. A glimmer of hope is not enough for me Eleanor!
Not cool. Not happening.
I feel like I've wasted effort reading the book when this hollow feeling happens.
Bah humbug!
Love and peace - Wozza
No comments:
Post a Comment