I’m giving up on a novel today

Jan 14 2009

I rarely ever give up on a book once I start reading, and in fact, I can’t remember the last time I did so. But I’m afraid that I’m giving up on a novel today. Surprisingly it’s a Stephen King novel, and I’ve liked most of his stuff in the past. The book I’ll be giving up is called Cell: A Novel.

The plot of the novel is intriguing: An event called "The Pulse" makes people using their cell phones go crazy and start killing each other. On that premise, the story follows a character named Clayton Riddell is in Boston. He’s an artist and just managed to sell his comic book series to a publisher. Clay happens to be in Boston when The Pulse hits and takes cover from the ensuing violence with a few others in the lobby of the hotel he’s been staying at (and that’s where I stopped reading).

My problem is with the characters. They are simply not believable and I have not really been given a reason to care about them. For example, Clay is supposed to be an artist, yet when he and a few other survivors are trying to figure out how many cell phone users are affected by the strange event, Clay says:

"So how many of the damn things are there in Boston?" Clay asked. "What’s the market penetration?"

The bold emphasis is mine. When was the last time you heard an artist use the words "market penetration?" I don’t know, maybe I’m just being too picky after reading too much literary fiction, but Clay’s character isn’t very convincing. And after reading that bit of dialogue, I knew the book wasn’t going to be finished. Maybe sometime in the future I’ll return to this book and form a different opinion.

Has there been a novel that you have given up on? What was it and why did you give up on it? Leave a comment below!

2 Responses

The only book I have ever given up on reading (besides books for school) was a book by Steve Martini. I can’t remember the name, but it was so bad instead of reading it I stared at the seat in front of me for the remainder of my flight. Terrible!

Susan 1/14/2009 6:14 pm
Hi Susan!
Thanks for your comment! I have also read a Steve Martini book and, while I didn’t give up on it, thought it was pretty bad.
Brad

Brad 1/14/2009 7:24 pm