First-Person Narration - A Good Option?
- CambaReviewer
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Re: First-Person Narration - A Good Option?
- Howlan
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First-person narratives are great if you want to get into the head of the character. Especially for character-driven novels.CambaReviewer wrote: ↑22 Feb 2020, 11:57 I like first person narratives because of the depth of insight I gain from books written like this. However, the distinction of whose POV is written should be clear and unambiguous. If it cannot be so, third person narratives will work better.
- Nym182
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yeah that was one of the things i had a hard time with... it seemed like it flipped flopped mid chapter and I never knew who's eyes we were seeing through!CambaReviewer wrote: ↑22 Feb 2020, 11:57 I like first person narratives because of the depth of insight I gain from books written like this. However, the distinction of whose POV is written should be clear and unambiguous. If it cannot be so, third person narratives will work better.
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Interesting question! I like books that have more than one character doing first-person narration. I think it does give us great insight into characters. I think that third person would have taken away some of the mystery of the motives.cristinaro wrote: ↑15 Feb 2020, 07:49 Do you think that it was a good idea for the author to alternate between Adam's and Carly's first-person narration? As far as I am concerned, I found Adam's passages more interesting and believable than Carly's. Would a third-person narration have worked better?
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- Nym182
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The one thing that is good about third person is the POV is less biased. In first person you are seeing things through a characters eye and that can be unreliable.sarahmarlowe wrote: ↑24 Feb 2020, 17:08Interesting question! I like books that have more than one character doing first-person narration. I think it does give us great insight into characters. I think that third person would have taken away some of the mystery of the motives.cristinaro wrote: ↑15 Feb 2020, 07:49 Do you think that it was a good idea for the author to alternate between Adam's and Carly's first-person narration? As far as I am concerned, I found Adam's passages more interesting and believable than Carly's. Would a third-person narration have worked better?
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Yes, it was confusing. But it was refreshing to see things from another perspective.Nym182 wrote: ↑24 Feb 2020, 12:01yeah that was one of the things i had a hard time with... it seemed like it flipped flopped mid chapter and I never knew who's eyes we were seeing through!CambaReviewer wrote: ↑22 Feb 2020, 11:57 I like first person narratives because of the depth of insight I gain from books written like this. However, the distinction of whose POV is written should be clear and unambiguous. If it cannot be so, third person narratives will work better.
- Howlan
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Yes sometimes if the narration is not good enough and that is such a killjoy!sarahmarlowe wrote: ↑24 Feb 2020, 17:08Interesting question! I like books that have more than one character doing first-person narration. I think it does give us great insight into characters. I think that third person would have taken away some of the mystery of the motives.cristinaro wrote: ↑15 Feb 2020, 07:49 Do you think that it was a good idea for the author to alternate between Adam's and Carly's first-person narration? As far as I am concerned, I found Adam's passages more interesting and believable than Carly's. Would a third-person narration have worked better?
- Howlan
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But that really gives us a good perspective into the main character.Nym182 wrote: ↑25 Feb 2020, 12:15The one thing that is good about third person is the POV is less biased. In first person you are seeing things through a characters eye and that can be unreliable.sarahmarlowe wrote: ↑24 Feb 2020, 17:08Interesting question! I like books that have more than one character doing first-person narration. I think it does give us great insight into characters. I think that third person would have taken away some of the mystery of the motives.cristinaro wrote: ↑15 Feb 2020, 07:49 Do you think that it was a good idea for the author to alternate between Adam's and Carly's first-person narration? As far as I am concerned, I found Adam's passages more interesting and believable than Carly's. Would a third-person narration have worked better?
- Howlan
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It gave us a great but disturbing insight into the main character.
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Yes I either the author should have gone through with the single person narration or if she wanted to add more characters she could have put it in the third person narrative.mhopkins wrote: ↑26 Feb 2020, 15:45 I think the first-person narrative was a good choice for this book with Adam's inner thinkings, especially at the beginning. I don't know if a third-person narrative would have given us as much insight. But, I don't think it should have switched to Carly's - there was no difference in the voices, so it was hard to know who was talking at the time.