Submitted by Old-Capital-7781 t3_10eu3jw in books
Right now I’m reading ‘A Tale of Two Cities’ as my first Dickens book, (which probably wasn’t a good starting point to begin with) and I just dislike his writing style, it’s just so descriptive to the point of being long winded. And for no reason at all for the most part. I can understand being descriptive to emphasize the point of the narrative or idea. But he just does it all the time.
Again, maybe I shouldn’t have started off on this book, but to what I understand, he’s known for his descriptions. And I don’t know if I can enjoy his books in the long run if they all have have this trade mark.
iambluest t1_j4t6nep wrote
These books were written at a time when people were not exposed to imagery in media to the extent you are used to. My example is the description of a street festival in count of Monte Cristo. It goes on for pages. Nowadays, a few lines to set the scene would be enough, because we have all seen various street parties in person while traveling, or in movies and tv. Back then, those experiences were far less common. I think this his, then, one factor...the author needed to be able to describe what was unfamiliar to the reader, and do it well without spoiling the pace of the story.