WISH WEEK DAY THREE BONUS GREAT GOODREADS REVIEW FOR IRVING
Posted on July 17, 2012
A reader from Germany got ahold of IRVING and gave it five stars on goodreads.com:
"I was not sure if it is a 4 star or a 5 star book for me. In the end I gave it 5 stars.
The book has 2 story lines. One is the story of Irving Wishbutton. The other is the story of 'his' author. The latter tells us how the author, a teacher, includes writing this story in his everyday life and how he develops the story, sometimes rewriting it, creates characters find names and how in some parts the process of writing is not an active process by the author but rather following the story he began like being drawn by a current.
In the Wishbutton story line those developments and changes are reflected by the hero, who starts as a smudge with undefined features, no clothes and no knowledge of himself. Irving is lead to the questing academy, where all characters learn how to act and play their role. A character leaves this academy when his book is published. The more his author defines him the more he knows about himself and the clearer his character becomes in appearance. The process is packed in a whodunit for YA.
I won't tell more about the content. Read for yourself. As for the rating:
5 stars for the idea. I like books, i like books about books. I would like to write myself. And a book about writing a book and experiencing the writing process from a chracters POV. I love you, Mr. Clopper....
5 stars for the second story line. It is beautifully balanced against the other story line and in itself.
4-5 stars for the Wishbutton story line. The only reason I did not give that story line 5 stars is that at least in the beginning I had the feeling that the language and the thoughts of the other characters sometimes did not fit those characters. As the story developed I got the impression that this was intended by the author to show how other authors try to define characters by their way of speaking and sometimes just fail in doing so.
The story does not end. We are promised a second book. I have not yet decided if I like this feeling of anticipation or rather hate to wait.
So, if you are not above reading a YA whodunit and if you ever wanted to experience how a book is written from a characters POV, give this one a try."
Thank you so much for taking the time to write up a nice review of IRVING. It made me beam with pride at the details you caught in the book and the author commentary that runs throughout it.