Wednesday 15 September 2010

And Who Lives Happily Ever After

A strange thing happened last month with one of the books I was reading.

The Passage had been quite popular for most of summer and although I rarely buy hardcover books (because they're so expensive and because they're so heavy and therefore hard to read in bed!) Amazon.ca was selling it half price and on a whim (and on one of my spendy lots on books sprees) I bought it.

I was looking forward to reading it, hopeful that such a popular and large book would give me something to sink my teeth into and enjoy for a while, but I didn't enjoy reading it.

It was a surprisingly fast read for me, but I really didn't enjoy it. I actually found myself grumbling at times while reading, wishing the author had skipped some of the longer, possibly unnecessary parts and must moved on already. There was something just altogether disappointing about the book for me and I finished it grudgingly and moved on to my next book, relieved to be done, shaking my head that I'd been suckered into buying it after all.

Then the strangest thing happened. I found myself wondering about the characters.

I'm not going to give anything away here, and don't want to discourage anyone from reading the book, but the ending wasn't... satisfying. Not surprising, perhaps, since I knew going in that the book was the first in a trilogy. But still, the ending only made me more frustrated with the entire experience of reading it.

Which is why it was odd, to me, that I started to think about and wonder about the characters.

I hadn't enjoyed the book. I felt betrayed by certain things that happened with characters. So why was I still thinking about them?

Maybe the books I read after weren't as intense so my brain wandered. I don't know. I do know that until I got and read Mockingjay, the characters from The Passage were running through my mind and I wanted to know what was happening with them.

When I finished The Passage, I told myself I refused to read the next two books, that it was frustrating enough to have read the first one.

But now I don't know.

Because if I don't read them, how am I supposed to find out how it all ends?

2 comments:

Canadianbloggergirl said...

That is why I wait for all the books of the series to come out, then read them back to back. Its a cheater's way out in a way, but I can't stand waiting....I swear I'm the most impatient person in the world...lol.

Victoria said...

Hmmmmm... I may have to adopt something similar. But... I don't think I'm patient enough to wait for them all to come out! Argh! ;)