Community Reviews
This was my second Jane Johnson book, and I found myself rather disappointed. The plot was overly predictable and rather flat. And I felt like the author was trying to make me feel sorry for her characters, and on one hand, I did. But after all the drama and the ongoing horrendous things she put them through, I found myself less sympathetic and more annoyed as I started skimming the book to finish it. I wasn't wishing more brutality on them. I just got bored with all the repeated angst and the nearly junior high romance I was watching unfold. I wanted to see some character development, and so I expected more.
Yes, I think it is possible to alienate your readers by making your main characters too pathetic. It's a fine tightrope walk of balance, which is perhaps why I am not overly fond of Charles Dickens books. (GASP!) I know that to most of my Brit lit friends this is nearly blasphemy. But I find many of Dicken's characters either ooey-gooey-sweetly-piously-saint-of-the-year-good or horribly-twisted-morally-bankrupt-evil-wicked . And sometimes that over-dramatization of everyone being either black or white wears on my gray soul.
Yes, I think it is possible to alienate your readers by making your main characters too pathetic. It's a fine tightrope walk of balance, which is perhaps why I am not overly fond of Charles Dickens books. (GASP!) I know that to most of my Brit lit friends this is nearly blasphemy. But I find many of Dicken's characters either ooey-gooey-sweetly-piously-saint-of-the-year-good or horribly-twisted-morally-bankrupt-evil-wicked . And sometimes that over-dramatization of everyone being either black or white wears on my gray soul.
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