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anonamen t1_ixe9sq3 wrote

The specific claim you're reacting to is ... puzzling. I'm not sure that there's a fiction book in existence that doesn't have the author's voice and opinion in it. I suppose ghost-written books in the style of another author? But I suspect that's not what is meant.

Here's a stab at what this criticism actually means: the author is making it very clear what they think and narrowing the potential meaning of their work in the reader's mind. Very much a stylistic choice. Some writers prefer to leave their work open-ended and don't worry about interpretation. Some writers actively encourage readers to interpret in unusual ways. Others have very definite designs embedded in their work; some interpretations are objectively wrong.

A lot of people don't like the latter kind of author. I'm not sure why. I suppose because some readers get frustrated if they have ideas about a book, then find that their ideas were wrong and that they misunderstood the book. There's also a belief floating around that books never have incorrect interpretations, which makes no sense to me. But people believe it.

As for a fiction book with so much of the author's voice as to be obnoxious at times? Ayn Rand, obviously. I actually like her work a lot, but she sometimes forgets that her characters are characters and starts writing monologues in her own voice, instead of the characters' voices. At times she does this with characters who are ostensibly having a conversation, but the two sides of the conversation bleed together and you can't tell who's speaking anymore because their voices lose all differentiation.

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PJsinBed149 t1_ixhnqhd wrote

>she sometimes forgets that her characters are characters and starts writing monologues in her own voice

This is key for me. If there's a character whose only role is to declare the view of the author, I find it really boring and annoying. I DNF'ed The Island by Aldous Huxley because of this.

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Extension_Virus_835 OP t1_ixedi0f wrote

I mean I completely agree there is not to my knowledge a book where the author (intentionally or unintentionally) doesn’t insert at least part of their own POV. Which is why it’s been puzzling to me as well to see this critique on so many books lately! I was wondering if I had been missing something in the general book community as of late. It seems though these may just be people from a loud minority of book people!

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