The Chopping Blog

This book is a tour de force, the sort of novel you can come back to again and again and find more things to admire in it—which is the definition of timelessness.

The beauty of Giovanni’s Room lies in its simplicity.

The Bundren family is on a quest to bury Addie in Jefferson, but they each have different approaches to the journey. The voyage gives the story a through-line plot, while the character goals add narrative depth at the level of characterization and theme.

High praise surrounds Gustave Flaubert’s novel Madame Bovary. It has been called “perfect” by many great authors, a novel that approaches poetry, and “the best novel ever written.”

"Tragic climaxes typically end in catastrophe—the final consequence of the protagonist’s fatal flaw."

In real life, people have many internal conflicts, which means that a protagonist should too. Everything bouncing around inside a character’s head contributes to their complexity and, therefore, their authenticity.

In short, this heartbreaking novella is about what it means to be human.

"Whenever I’m analyzing the plot of a more structurally experimental novel, I start by considering what happens at the climax."

But does this count as plot? Doesn’t plot require a protagonist? Doesn’t plot require an inciting incident, an arc, and a climax?

In the character of Heathcliff, Brontë proves that a protagonist doesn’t have to be likable for readers to follow them; they just have to be interesting.

Patchett writes about something that is very hard to make interesting: the triumph of goodness over evil. Her tricks: the use of tension, and the transformation of character.

Sanderson's masterful intertwining of family dynamics with the epic fantasy setting offers a rich, multi-layered narrative experience that showcases his ability to blend personal motivations with grand-scale storytelling.