What do you look for in a novel?

[suiledonn]

After reading most of the recent thread about authors whose success is a mystery to you I am wondering what do you look for in a novel? I am stunned by some of the names mentioned in the other thread and wonder what does it take to impress the modern reader. I love any story that is well written with characters that come alive. I like everything from modern American literature to classics with some murder mystery thrown in for good measure.

Dick is respectable working-class. His mistake is somehow going to involve his sister Clara. I think it's going to be something a bit racier than what Bink says. Whatever it is, it will cause young women in long white dresses to swoon around in armchairs looking very depressed, judging by the pics.

Kathy - Might his mistake involve Clara and Rohypnol?

i should imagine he somehow caused his sister Clara to go Outside at Night and look for him, whereby she fell victim to the night air, wasted away and died (cue deathbed scene - '"Oh Dick! I can see the Angels! And Mother!' Dick raised his head and looked at Reverend Blorkins. "Yes, Dick", said his venerable friend, tears gleaming in his eyes. "You must be joyful. Clara is no longer a weary sojourner in the vale of tears, but has gone before to the happier lands to which we all look". Dick set his jaw and rose slowly to his feet. "My beloved Clara, you are no longer in pain and you are with Mother. Happy, happy Clara! Praise God!"'

Lot's of word. Otherwise it's just boring.

an eye catching picture. As shallow as that

I am laughing at UQD's boycott list.

You hvae to go beyond WH Smiths to choose a good book, then?

Funny how shed/urine has overtaken chardonnay-based life forms in search of man in the last few years.

My criteria starts as Bink's does, Good quality writing. I like a range of genres and scale - but it has to be an emphatic version of it. I like it to have real meaning and speak of issues of our time, or else be revelationary - though I do enjoy funny and gripping novels - Case Histories would fall into that category.

And it has to be good quality print. Hiran Desai's The Inheritance of Loss is sitting on the shlf because the print is so blurry and low-quality and tiny that I can't read it.

I think with "inward-looking" and "me novel" she means the same thing. I've certainly read a few of those. Set in Hampstead or other fashionable London suburb, featuring characters with all the free time in the world who spend their lives in coffee houses and antique shops, or committing genteel adultery while ruminating on the state of their "hearts".

lol @ genteel adultery. Lunchtime concerts at the Wigmore Hall, tea at Fred's then shagging on beds made up with linen from the White Company?

Love UQD's boycott list. jeanious. (Even if I don't agree with some of it: I LOVE American fiction. So many English writers - especially the male ones published by Picador - allow their numerous angsty hang-ups to dominate the narrative tone.

I go for anything that doesn't have a shawl or a cardigan on the cover .

FlossieT - Tell me some of the American authors you like please. I also love American fiction and am always on the look out for recommendations. Thanks