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I found many instances where the Fleisher's style of writing was incredibly distracting to me. It was hard for me to stay engaged with the book and/or plot because of this. Examples are excessive use of ellipses and parenthesis, choppy chapters, technical jargon, and changing names of things to something similar (obviously so he does not get sued, I understand why it was just annoying to me personally). Did this affect anyone the same way? Did you notice these elements and like them? Did you not even notice some or all of these? I am very curious to know how others felt about this.

At times, I do think the style was a little distracting from the main elements and themes of the novel. However, I personally did enjoy the style of writing so I didn't have too many complaints.

britt13 wrote: ↑09 Mar 2018, 15:51 I found many instances where the Fleisher's style of writing was incredibly distracting to me. It was hard for me to stay engaged with the book and/or plot because of this. Examples are excessive use of ellipses and parenthesis, choppy chapters, technical jargon, and changing names of things to something similar (obviously so he does not get sued, I understand why it was just annoying to me personally). Did this affect anyone the same way? Did you notice these elements and like them? Did you not even notice some or all of these? I am very curious to know how others felt about this.

The choppy chapters distracted me, but the technical jargon did not, as I do have a pretty good grasp on that type of vocabulary. I didn't care, one way or the other, about the way he changed names, but it probably would have been better to use totally fictitious names for the simple reason that some people will mix reality up with the book.

I found the constant incorrect use of colons and semicolons mildly distracting but I was able to overlook the rest and it really didn't divert me from the plot.

There were several things wrong with the author's writing style for me. I put all of my frustration with the book in my review for it. One was the odd side comments after some sections from the author. I don't think those were needed. Fleischer had good ideas but overwriting really killed it for me.

He did chop about between scenes quite a lot, but on the whole that didn't bother me. The use of real trade names was a bit irritating, in my opinion, but I suppose it made it all seem more likely to happen in the foreseeable future. I quite liked some of the similar names, particularly BrightFahrt. The ellipses and parentheses didn't bother me, but I use those quite a lot myself.

CatInTheHat wrote: ↑10 Mar 2018, 22:35

britt13 wrote: ↑09 Mar 2018, 15:51 I found many instances where the Fleisher's style of writing was incredibly distracting to me. It was hard for me to stay engaged with the book and/or plot because of this. Examples are excessive use of ellipses and parenthesis, choppy chapters, technical jargon, and changing names of things to something similar (obviously so he does not get sued, I understand why it was just annoying to me personally). Did this affect anyone the same way? Did you notice these elements and like them? Did you not even notice some or all of these? I am very curious to know how others felt about this.

The choppy chapters distracted me, but the technical jargon did not, as I do have a pretty good grasp on that type of vocabulary. I didn't care, one way or the other, about the way he changed names, but it probably would have been better to use totally fictitious names for the simple reason that some people will mix reality up with the book.

Do you think that those parts using the names are far from our reality? I know the book is fiction, and obviously everything to do with the watches is not real, but aren't the parts about guns pretty close to what we are dealing with? I do not know of any senior discount from the NRA but other than that everything seemed pretty spot on to me.

melissy370 wrote: ↑11 Mar 2018, 14:52 There were several things wrong with the author's writing style for me. I put all of my frustration with the book in my review for it. One was the odd side comments after some sections from the author. I don't think those were needed. Fleischer had good ideas but overwriting really killed it for me.

I totally agree! I loved his concepts so much and his characters were really rather engaging but the writing just kept pulling me away from the good. Overwriting is actually a very good way of wording that. So much seemed unnecessary.

The items you mentioned didn't really bother me, but I did notice the author as the narrator inserting his thoughts quite frequently. That was a bit distracting to me but did not ruin the story.

Libs_Books wrote: ↑11 Mar 2018, 15:36 He did chop about between scenes quite a lot, but on the whole that didn't bother me. The use of real trade names was a bit irritating, in my opinion, but I suppose it made it all seem more likely to happen in the foreseeable future. I quite liked some of the similar names, particularly BrightFahrt. The ellipses and parentheses didn't bother me, but I use those quite a lot myself.

"BrightFahrt" was actually one of the ones that made me laugh out loud. While I did find this kind of thing annoying, it did catch my attention and amuse me with this specific usage. I had not thought of the idea that he wants us to see this in the near future. I suppose that should have been obvious, but I just kept thinking that this was a parallel type society. Thank you for that insight!

kandscreeley wrote: ↑11 Mar 2018, 16:29 The items you mentioned didn't really bother me, but I did notice the author as the narrator inserting his thoughts quite frequently. That was a bit distracting to me but did not ruin the story.

Yes, I thought of it a bit like asides in a play. I popped through the fourth wall of the story flowing and that was what I found distracting. I have not read a book that used this tactic quite so frequently so it was interesting to see, though I personally did not think that it was effective.

melissy370 wrote: ↑11 Mar 2018, 14:52 There were several things wrong with the author's writing style for me. I put all of my frustration with the book in my review for it. One was the odd side comments after some sections from the author. I don't think those were needed. Fleischer had good ideas but overwriting really killed it for me.

I agree, the author's choice of vocabulary or punctuation weren't nearly as distracting as the side comments you mentioned. I didn't think they were necessary either, and in fact, these kinds of interjections usually pull me right out of a story.

I thought it was just me who found his writing style distracting!! I still enjoyed the book, but I was unable to read as quickly as I normally would have.

The few things I did notice I actually really liked. Changing the names of things was done very cleverly. I would have to say that I generally liked the writer's style and did not find any reason to wish he had written the book differently. I was so swept along by the story that any little thing like that didn't take away from it. It was very engaging for me.

Now that you mention it, I did feel some of the transitions between characters happened too fast, without preparation for the break. There was one point that the author was discussed, by himself or the editor, as wanting to add more to the scene, but didn't. I found that blurb odd and very out of place in the text. Other than that, I found it seamless as I was easily directed by the place names in bold and character names quickly introduced after transitions.

I think overall the book was rather menacing, in its own way, as politics are these days. It was almost if I was irritated knowing all of this is happening right now... and who the President is.