TIL that "literary fiction" isn't just a fancy label for slow books

I used to roll my eyes when book club members argued literary fiction was deeper than genre stuff. Then I read *Pachinko* last month and realized the character work and layered themes actually changed how I think about family history. Anybody else had a pretentious-sounding book turn out to be genuinely worth the hype?

3 comments

3 Comments

johnson.river1d agoTop Commenter

It reminds me how we treat slow moments in regular life like they're boring or broken. Like when you watch a movie with no explosions and someone calls it "too slow" when really it's just letting you sit with the characters. Pachinko was like that for me, it forced me to stop waiting for something exciting to happen and instead pay attention to how people carry their parents' mistakes with them. The same way some folks can't stand a quiet conversation over coffee because there's no drama every five minutes.

abby_morgan181d ago

Oh come on, is it really that deep? I forced myself through Pachinko and honestly it was just a slow crawl through sad people making bad choices. Literary fiction gets way too much credit for being "profound" when really it's just boring writing with a fancy cover.

emma961d ago

That reminds me of when my book club tried to read "A Little Life" and half of us just couldn't get past the first hundred pages... everyone kept saying how devastatingly brilliant it was but I just felt like I was watching someone kick a puppy for 700 pages. My friend Sarah said she cried for three days straight and I was like "girl, maybe put down the book and go for a walk." I think sometimes people confuse emotional exhaustion with literary merit, you know?