How many different perspectives is too many?

Submitted by throwawaffleaway t3_yzoywe in books

I’m reading This Must Be the Place by Maggie O’Farrell.

Back in the beginning of 2021 I listened to Hamnet on audio and LOVED it. Of course there were several different perspectives in that book, and I thought it was a great device especially for telling the story of the Black Plague spreading. I don’t recall exactly how many times she switched which character’s POV the audience was reading, but the way it was done made sense and served the narrative arc really well, imo. Perhaps this also worked better because I’m generally familiar with Shakespeare as a layperson.

So it’s not a shock that an earlier work of hers might not be as polished, but in This Must Be the Place, as I’m halfway through, it seems she’s determined to write a chapter from every single character that gets mentioned in passing. I’m having a really hard time finding the thread of the story here, as each POV is also a different point in time and typically a different geographic location as well. It’s not that it’s a complex story, seems like the main couple this story surrounds had some marriages ending with infidelity and there’s kids in their former marriages, plus an ex-gf died (not much of a spoiler, this is mentioned in the first chapter).

My frustration boils down to chicken-or-egg: am I not invested because of the constant whiplash? Or is the story just not that interesting and the radical time/space/character jumps are the only attempt at intrigue?

So far, again I’m precisely halfway through, the chapters have been: husband, wife, husbands first son, husbands first daughter, pointless boring auction catalogue, husband, wife, husband, husbands long lost best friend, husbands second daughter, wife’s ex-husbands assistant, wife’s brother. That’s 9 different characters, and I feel like there’s no justification here for that many.

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Brizoot t1_ix1cm7z wrote

The Malazan series has 453 POVs across 10 books with the most common POV only getting 4% of the word count. For fans of epic fantasy and sci-fi low POV counts can feel very restrictive.

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throwawaffleaway OP t1_ix1cxgi wrote

Jeez that’s got to be some kind of record. How well did it work in that series? Did my chicken-or-egg reaction cross your mind? Would fewer perspectives have diminished the series in your opinion?

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Brizoot t1_ix1du3g wrote

It's my favourite fantasy series so it certainly works for me. Fewer perspectives would absolutely have diminished the series as there are multiple plot threads and characters that don't even appear in the same books until toward the end. Many characters enter the series half way through their own arcs or stories and one important character is only now having their story completed in a separate book series.

As for your chicken and egg story I think if you don't find the central story interesting then extra POVs won't make it any better. I've been reading big fantasy and sci-fi since I was a kid so jumping POV is something I expect and am totally comfortable with and the book in the OP actually sounds pretty interesting to me.

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throwawaffleaway OP t1_ix1eox6 wrote

Oh, look into it if you like, but it’s not fantasy. It’s a “portrait of a marriage”, more like a portrait of everyone and their third cousin lol.

Yeah, I feel like multiple POV is standard in epics for a reason, and lots of fantasy/sci-fi have complex worlds that need to be explained to the reader. Providing multiple POV probably helps grasp that better, with everyone taking part in some event and the setting being perceived according to that event and the characters role.

I’m thinking for literary fiction, such as this, it’s not working very well depending on how long the masthead is and how relevant each person actually is to the story.

Thanks for getting in the weeds with me!

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Brizoot t1_ix1js3e wrote

I think I'd find a portrait of a marriage to be pretty boring if I only got the couple's POV. Especially as ugly marriages don't always seem ugly from the inside and vice versa.

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Breeze69420 t1_ix1wgta wrote

Each book has a Dramatis Persona at the beginning. The books jump around the world so each book introduces dozens of new characters. Each storyline in a books gets a few pages before jumping to a new scene.

You get used to it. It's not for everyone, though.

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Serventdraco t1_ix1l9b2 wrote

>How well did it work in that series?

When people discuss the best fantasy series ever written, Malazan is a strong contender.

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jefrye t1_ix1dz4u wrote

>it seems she’s determined to write a chapter from every single character that gets mentioned in passing.

This is an artistic choice. You might as well ask "how much blue is too much for a painting?"

If you think she used too many, that's a fair critique. But there are plenty of books that successfully use a ton of different perspectives to tell their story.

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throwawaffleaway OP t1_ix1e66t wrote

STOP ONE OF THE CHAPTERS IS CALLED “enough blue to make” HOW DID YOU KNOW 😂

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jefrye t1_ix1ecdu wrote

Lol, total coincidence as I haven't read the book :)

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hannah_nj t1_ix17a0s wrote

Yeah I think that would frustrate me. I’m quite a character-driven reader and like to get to know the characters really well, so jumping around to too many for the sake of the plot takes me out of the story a bit. Sometimes POV changes are great, but if they’re just used as a way to make it easier to explain plot points, you can usually tell

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conservio t1_ix1g4vf wrote

It really varies depending on the story being told.

But I often feel that authors resort to extra POVs needlessly. Especially if there a few main perspectives and then there is one random person for 2 pages that you never see again. IMO it’s lazy writing.

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pineapplesf t1_ix2nc6i wrote

My Name is Red gave a color a POV. Lincoln in the Bardo's audiobook was famously read by 166 voice actors. Both, imo, are successful.

I think, as with everything, no more or less than necessary to get across the point you want.

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Positive-Mix7283 t1_ix30mvw wrote

If you can't distinctly tell the differences between different perspectives then there is too many.

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Motoreducteur t1_ix17y4v wrote

I think it depends mainly on the action for each perspective. If they all follow the same action, and the perspectives are linked (like from the perspective of one character and then another who is with them), it should be fine to have like 5-6.

I also find that having just a chapter from another perspective (even that of a random character) can really help to, well, put in perspective, the action. When you follow the hero, a big monster is like « meh, how is he going to take him down? », but if you follow the altercation from a random peasant’s perspective, the danger feels all the more real and you are reminded of the stakes of the fight.

All in all, I think that there should be 3 « main perspectives » at most. Even that is a lot (Eragon: Eldest is already made boring by having 2 different main perspectives). As for the « random citizen » perspective, you may have a lot of you want, but they must be sparse and put an emphasis on something you want to show the reader. Recurring perspectives are really not the best way to tell a story, especially if it’s on different actions.

And yes, I find A song of ice and fire to be a poor book series for its deplorable perspective management.

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Silent-Low-1143 t1_ix2jlfu wrote

>And yes, I find A song of ice and fire to be a poor book series for its deplorable perspective management.

Among all it's imperfections, I feel the character perspectives are something he does reasonably well (as far as I have read).

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throwawaffleaway OP t1_ix1b0fh wrote

I have only read the first GOT book, but I watched the show and at least the perspective changing there MOSTLY contributed to the audience understanding how the fight for the throne unfolded throughout the whole country. Being such a long series and having complex political families, even if it’s tiresome, most of it makes sense. However, this is why I don’t read a lot of fantasy, because it IS a lot to keep track of.

I have encountered the bystander perspective before and done right, it can reveal so much. It’s sort of like breaking the fourth wall, reminding the audience that there’s so many other lives being lived besides the ones you’re reading about.

I like the rule of odds quite a bit. 1,3, or 5 seems like a decent amount of POV. The only book I can think of off the top of my head that had 2 perspectives (unless you count the very beginning before MC Lotto was born) was Fates and Furies, which I hated tbh.

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Motoreducteur t1_ix1lhf8 wrote

I agree, it fits really well in a show, but the books are hard to read, and it’s not because of their size… when I read GOT, I roughly only looked at the Daenerys part, and then looked at the rest, and even then, it was quite boring and difficult to follow…

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