What do you think about the way that the story is being told?

Use this forum to discuss the January 2021 Book of the month, "The Vanished" by Pejay Bradley
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Sushan Ekanayake
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What do you think about the way that the story is being told?

Post by Sushan Ekanayake »

The author has narrated the story from the perspective of various characters, as they are recounting their own stories with their subjective thoughts. What do you think about this way of writing? Does it make the book more interesting? Is it the most appropriate method for this sort of a book?
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Post by Cristina Chifane »

Lady Sougyon is the only character who tells her story from the first-person perspective. The third-person narration is employed when focusing on different other characters like Mr. Seoh or Embon. I think the use of alternating narrative perspective was a smart choice as it managed to provide a broader perspective on things. However, since we only follow Lady Sougyon's thoughts, we tend to be subjective and take her side, at least when it comes to her son, Embon.
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Post by cd20 »

I think it gives the story a broader perspective, but it can be distracting too. I personally prefer stories that don't follow quite so many people, but you can understand why it is done that way here. For this particular book I think it does make it more interesting.
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Post by Sushan Ekanayake »

cd20 wrote: 02 Jan 2021, 18:59 I think it gives the story a broader perspective, but it can be distracting too. I personally prefer stories that don't follow quite so many people, but you can understand why it is done that way here. For this particular book I think it does make it more interesting.
The author has gripped a bigger picture with alterations of concern of the reader to various characters from time to time. On the other hand, it has allowed him to include all events that took place, especially the ones which are only known to a particular character, and had no way to be narrated by some other character without damaging the 'natural feeling' of the book
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Post by angelanikkicea »

I think it was a great choice for the author to make use of this style. At first, I get to understand the feelings of Lady Sougyon. Later on, as different characters are introduced, I get to see how they also feel and think differently.
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Post by Fozia RYK »

The different characters in the book have different stories. and describing the various characters can only be possible by the method the writer has used in the book. So I think that the method of writer for explanation of the characters in the book is appropriate.
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Post by Verna Coy »

I like the omniscient way the author chose to narrate this work. It gives the reader a way to see inside each character and hear their thoughts. I appreciated how the early scenes of the book described the different elements of the Korena family society and how they interact with one another.
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Post by Book Lover Jack »

I like the switching between narration styles employed. It made the book feel more varied and wider in scope. The focus and perspective was not just on a single character but several
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Post by Bridgetbruso99 »

I disliked that the only part told in 1st person is told by Embon's mother. And it is a bit difficult to understand why we are reading about Mr. Seol until so much later on. I did enjoy that you get multiple perspectives from several characters though
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Post by Dabrielle »

I think the author's use of multiple voices is very effective in that we are able to see the events from the particular character's perspective. Although there is the odd moment when I have to wonder who is the narrator, on the whole, this device breaks the monotony and draws the reader deep into the narrative.
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Post by lavkathleen »

It... makes it easy. We have all these background stories from the people in Embon's life and they all somehow influence and/or lead him to where he ended up. It kind of feels like destiny.

It makes reading and comprehending easy. I like it.
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Post by Kelyn »

I have a love/hate relationship with this style of writing. It works if there are many characters that are hard to keep straight (such as in this book). It can become a bit clunky to deal with in books with less of a range of characters. I believe it worked quite well in this book as it helped keep the reader from being confused about who was speaking and allowed him/her to see things and experiences from each character's perspective.
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Post by Julehart1 »

I don’t always love this style of writing, but in this book it makes sense to tell this story from multiple perspectives. There are many characters in the book, and it does widen the scope. I was glad to be able to see the views of the other characters even when they were narrating in third-person.
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Post by María Andrea Fernández Sepúlveda »

I don't love it. I would've liked much more alternating first person points of views. The distancing doesn't work for me and, at some point, Lady Sougyon's point of view simply disappears.
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Post by Sou Hi »

The only one with a voice in this book is Lady Sougyon, so it's just her view we see. The other characters have no voices, as their stories are told by another person. Personally, I don't mind that writing style. However, the book's concept is about Koreans' revolutions against Japan, but the narrating role is given to an unrelated character. This is where I found it odd. Like, what is the author's intention when she chose Lady Sougyon? What is she trying to show us through this Lady's eyes? What does this Lady's life have anything to do with the revolutions and Koreans' freedom? Due to this, I think the author should either select another narrator or write the book in the third-person perspective entirely.
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