The sweetheart

Story: 7.5 / 10
Characters: 7.0
Setting: 7.0
Prose: 7.0

Overall, this is quite a good novel, especially for a debut. There are two weaknesses that might put off readers. The book starts with an arbitrary event that triggers a flashback that lasts for the entirety of the novel. Most stories make this same mistake. Humans have been using stories to communicate information since the early days of language. Readers know they are going to be told a story when they pick up a book. These “introductions” are entirely superfluous.

More importantly, the author chose to use a very unusual narrative device. In fact, the only other author I can recall writing in this way was Tolstoy in War & Peace. Throughout Tolstoy's novel, the narrator will say “... and it is this [battle] that ultimately results in France's [weakening power]”. Compare that statement with “With France's most recent mistake, their prospects were not promising”. Note however, that by the time Tolstoy wrote this work, most people would be very much aware of the results of the war. Pointing out some educational information in a largely inconsistent voice might be acceptable. It didn't work for me, but the proposition sounds reasonable.

In The Sweetheart, no one knows what is going to happen; the story is fictitious. This style is problematic because it technically spoils some of the suspense. At a conceptual level, this type of omniscient narrator is very much consistent with flashback plot structures. Nevertheless, neither work in my not-so-humble opinion.

Now I'm worried that I might some similar mistake in my upcoming first novel. The book is still well worth reading despite these high-level faults. Hopefully mine will be too.

Tags: Women, wrestling, sports, athletes, goals, purpose, direction, career