Overwhelming background information

[Sushan Ekanayake]

Yeah. Yeah. Sometimes authors do bad by giving overt descriptions. I find this quite distracting to say the least. Regardless, this book was an amazing read.

I am not saying this book is bad or going to reduce its rating for any reason. But I felt the 'too muchness' of the background details quite distracting. It is purely personal, and it is highly possible that some readers prefer it that way and dislike directly told stories.

[Sushan Ekanayake]

I didn't find it distracting because it gave a flow to the plot. It was necessary as all those details reminds us of the scene when it happens in another worldline. And it also helped us to visualize the scene better.

Yes, it is a help to understand when scenarios repeat as per the multiverse theory. But I still think that it could have made into short descriptions. Reading the descriptions once is tiring enough. Imagine when you read the same for several times

[Uzo_Reviews]

I do not think the author was immoderate in his details. With the detailing, he used it to show a kind of connection between one world and the other. Though this is subject to opinion.

[Khushnuma Parveen +]

I think the details create a story world so they are necessary but in some cases like the details of the pub where Gary goes and details of the resort were a bit too long for me... Over all these details made me imagine the world of Gary easily.. So I think that these are necessary...

[yomide]

I don’t think it was overwhelming at all. For a book like this, a lot of description is needed in order to get a real feel as to what is happening in the story. It doesn’t matter if it’s not significant to the story, what matters to me is understanding what I’m reading and every single description helps make the story real

The 'real feel' is a good thing to a story. But irrelevant background details can make the story unnecessarily lengthy, and will ultimately exhaust the reader. What is the use of getting the real feel if you happen to find that you are struggling to reach the end of the book?

Well that is a real point there @Susan. I mean, what's the point in understanding a story if you find it unnecessarily long? But that didnt happen with Wordlines, or did it? Sure the descriptions made the book more lengthy than it should have been,but I don't think it was unnecessarily lwnghty. I think the descriptions were just enough to give the book enough real-feel to make...feel real.

[lavkathleen]

Usually, it would distract me or make it a drag to read the book. In this case, however, the details serve an important role because of the theme of the story. We need to be aware of them and try to catch the differences between the different AUs since the point of the story is showing that those differences are what makes each AU unique.

[Rwill0988]

I enjoyed the detail in the story. It helped me picture the scene and the characters in it- especially when small things changed based on what worldline was the focus. I know that isn't for everyone though. There was a lot of detail.

[lavkathleen]

I did notice that too, I feel like the author could have focused more on the story and how the plot progressed than describing things that didn't move the story forward. Maybe that would've worked if things were equally described to draw readers into the world.

It's been almost a year since I last read the book— I can't remember any part that didn't move the story forward. I guess it's the details for the worldbuilding? But I think those are heart of the book, since thr author was trying to point out the fact that they came from different AUs and those details are what makes the difference.

[lavkathleen]

I loved those descriptions. I was able to get into the new planet through those descriptions. For a fiction, I think those descriptions were very necessary.

Right?! Those descriptions are what makes the difference; I loved how the author was able to show the similarities but I got more excited about the little things that made each Gary unique. Descriptions here are necessary, though I wouldn't say that it's needed for every piece of fiction.

[lavkathleen]

I think the descriptions were necessary to soften the book a bit by using imagery. The description made the story seem realistic and provided prevented the book from being monotonous.

I'm not sure if that was the goal, 'cause for some stories it would actually do more harm than good. I get where OP was coming from since usually it makes the book tiring to read and I hate it when that happens. However, in this story, those descriptions were necessary since those tiny differences in details is the heart of the book.

[lavkathleen]

I feel the same way as you do. As a reader, I don't appreciate too many details about background, or too mich details in general, for the matter. However, I think it differs from one reader to the other. Some top sellers are stacked with details and people love it.

I find it distracting and think the less the better. Concise and to the point is my preference.

True; in general, I guess it's a matter of preference. But in this case, I can't imagine the story being this good without those tiny details. The author had to provide them because just as the theory goes, there could only be a handful of differences in decisions and actions but it would immensely affect how their lives go. If those were removed for the sake of being concise, then we'd be reading a different kind of story.

[Reema Aydieh]

I did notice that too, I feel like the author could have focused more on the story and how the plot progressed than describing things that didn't move the story forward. Maybe that would've worked if things were equally described to draw readers into the world.

It's been almost a year since I last read the book— I can't remember any part that didn't move the story forward. I guess it's the details for the worldbuilding? But I think those are heart of the book, since thr author was trying to point out the fact that they came from different AUs and those details are what makes the difference.

I realized my mistake after I posted that. I figured that to make the story enjoyable the author had to describe each line and how it was different from the other one. So yeah, I agree with you.

[Sushan Ekanayake]

I did notice them too but they weren't overkill for me. I think they served to show that only minor changes in the worldlines had occured. After all, isn't the many worlds theory suggesting that there are minor changes between worldlines all summing up to form an infinite number of possibilities for each scenario, each place, each person and each action?

I agree. The support that the minute background details gave to show the similarities between numerous universes is immense. But that does not out weight the extra effort that a reader has to go through to finish reading this book going through extensive and repetitive background details.

[ROSEY-ANN]

I did notice that too, I feel like the author could have focused more on the story and how the plot progressed than describing things that didn't move the story forward. Maybe that would've worked if things were equally described to draw readers into the world.

As I read over portions of the book. I did find the descriptions a bit much and maybe the descriptions could have been better integrated into the story. There were some descriptions that did their job in terms of capturing the imagination. For example the drive to their accommodation on the ski trip. However, some persons may have found this to be a bit much.

[JodieLKM]

I found the details described in one worldline linked up to other worldlines, so the 'thoughts' and descriptions of each scene were needed to reveal the idea that no matter what worldline the character was in, certain thoughts did not change. Now with that being said, Gary has drastically different opinions of Michelle when he feels slighted. The extreme feelings allowed the new worldline which gave into the feelings of 'hate' for her rather than 'love'. These feelings often go hand in hand. The whole scenario for each line was needed so we understand how he came to reach the places he was at.