The Dream (spoilers)
- Scott
- Site Admin
- Posts: 4069
- Joined: 31 Jul 2006, 23:00
- Currently Reading: The Unbound Soul
- Bookshelf Size: 340
- Reviewer Page: onlinebookclub.org/reviews/by-scott.html
- Reading Device: B00JG8GOWU
- Publishing Contest Votes: 960
Re: The Dream (spoilers)
I think it works at least arguably well in this story for two reasons.
1 - It isn't thrown in until the epilogue, so you can still appreciate the whole story without the dream twist. What's really usually annoying about the "and then they woke up" is it acts as a crucial part of the resolution of the conflict in the actual story arc. In other words, it becomes a cop out deus ex machina, which it wasn't in this story.
2 - Similarly, the fact that it was all a dream doesn't really change the story that much. This is because it's less of just a 'dream' and more of a premonition by someone who can see the future. While such premonitions allow Ruby to occasionally change the future, most of the events still come to pass exactly as 'dreamed' or to a similar result. In this way, the plot device behaves more like a time machine plot device in which Ruby goes back in time and slightly corrects some of her mistakes after having already made them in a context of still partial fatalism.
"Non ignara mali miseris succurrere disco." Virgil, The Aeneid
- gali
- Previous Member of the Month
- Posts: 53653
- Joined: 22 Oct 2013, 07:12
- Currently Reading: The Family Experiment
- Bookshelf Size: 2289
- Reviewer Page: onlinebookclub.org/reviews/by-gali.html
- Reading Device: B00I15SB16
- Publishing Contest Votes: 0
Scott wrote:I agree with the others, first @"B3cca 3ll3r", that as a rule I don't care for the "and then they woke up" type of plot device.
I think it works at least arguably well in this story for two reasons.
1 - It isn't thrown in until the epilogue, so you can still appreciate the whole story without the dream twist. What's really usually annoying about the "and then they woke up" is it acts as a crucial part of the resolution of the conflict in the actual story arc. In other words, it becomes a cop out deus ex machina, which it wasn't in this story.
2 - Similarly, the fact that it was all a dream doesn't really change the story that much. This is because it's less of just a 'dream' and more of a premonition by someone who can see the future. While such premonitions allow Ruby to occasionally change the future, most of the events still come to pass exactly as 'dreamed' or to a similar result. In this way, the plot device behaves more like a time machine plot device in which Ruby goes back in time and slightly corrects some of her mistakes after having already made them in a context of still partial fatalism.
Pronouns: She/Her
"In the case of good books, the point is not to see how many of them you can get through, but rather how many can get through to you." (Mortimer J. Adler)
- Christinar81
- Posts: 142
- Joined: 06 Mar 2015, 13:22
- Currently Reading: Barracuda
- Bookshelf Size: 104
- Reviewer Page: onlinebookclub.org/reviews/by-christinar81.html
- Latest Review: "Revelations From the Past" by Lori J Gordon
― Mae West
- Paliden
- Posts: 454
- Joined: 17 Sep 2013, 15:38
- Currently Reading: White Cargo
- Bookshelf Size: 1028
- Reviewer Page: onlinebookclub.org/reviews/by-paliden.html
- Latest Review: "Justified Anger" by Jennifer Colne
- kimmyschemy06
- Posts: 2598
- Joined: 20 Oct 2015, 20:49
- Currently Reading: The Searching Three
- Bookshelf Size: 694
- Reviewer Page: onlinebookclub.org/reviews/by-kimmyschemy06.html
- Latest Review: Kazi Boku by M. Poyhonen
- Bigwig1973
- Previous Member of the Month
- Posts: 1007
- Joined: 16 Apr 2020, 19:57
- Favorite Book: Notes from Underground
- Currently Reading: The Elements of Style
- Bookshelf Size: 503
- Reviewer Page: onlinebookclub.org/reviews/by-bigwig1973.html
- Latest Review: You, This Is Me...OVER?! by Clinton Beaudel Dooley
La Belle Dame Sans Mercy, Merci, Maria - Chartier, Keats, Hamik?