Was the authors style distracting from the plot?

[Jesse Nicolas Presgraves]

For me, when I'm writing something to friends I found that the style is a lot like the way a couple long time friends of mine communicate, with a lot of the ellipsis and parentheses in there along the way. To me, it was just like reading something from one of them and I was able to stay with it. I can see, though, how it could be distracting if you're not used to that.

[N_R]

Some of the grammar was not correct and I think that this did distract me at times. The style of writing was a bit annoying at times, however, overall I have enjoyed the book.

[Star88]

I don't think it was distracting at all. But I do think that the way he wrote some dialogue did not do a good job in making some scenes seem authentic. I found that distracting at times.

[freakkshowx]

Oh, absolutely. Trying to read through the whole thing felt like fitting pieces of gravel through the eye of a needle. The tone was far too matter-of-fact for a "thriller", and the entire thing felt expository, like I was waiting for the beginning to end and the rest of the book to finally commence. I'm glad other people felt that way, too.

[P0tt3ry]

I found many instances where the Fleisher's style of writing was incredibly distracting to me. It was hard for me to stay engaged with the book and/or plot because of this. Examples are excessive use of ellipses and parenthesis, choppy chapters, technical jargon, and changing names of things to something similar (obviously so he does not get sued, I understand why it was just annoying to me personally). Did this affect anyone the same way? Did you notice these elements and like them? Did you not even notice some or all of these? I am very curious to know how others felt about this.

I did find the nested sentences annoying (how many commas are too many?) but they were grammatically correct, if somewhat unclear at times. The similar names didn't bother me--it was a novel about current society so the names fit into the story line. As I mentioned in my review, the use of footnotes and author's asides gave me pause. Still, the book had a good flow and was easy for me to read.

[Amystl26]

A writing style like you described can either really add to the story, if done right and not overused! Otherwise, yes, it's extremely distracting!

[Amystl26]

Oh, absolutely. Trying to read through the whole thing felt like fitting pieces of gravel through the eye of a needle. The tone was far too matter-of-fact for a "thriller", and the entire thing felt expository, like I was waiting for the beginning to end and the rest of the book to finally commence. I'm glad other people felt that way, too.

Sounds like a slooooow start! Books like that either get REAL GOOD or turn into a deadend.

[Shrabastee Chakraborty]

Oh, I found the narrative distracting in several ways! First of all, in my opinion, his side comments and the inner thoughts and mental notes of the characters did not have to be explained. Sometimes there was inconsistencies in punctuations, particularly with quotation marks. I felt a lot of unnecessary details were added, editing which would make the story more compact. The story often seemed to stray from the main course to include details and past histories of the people receiving the 'Final Notice', which was way distracting to me. Some of Vince's (and other's) dialogues, while certainly relevant and thought-provoking, seemed too much like a stage monologue than a snippet of a real conversation. And honestly, why did the author feel the need to explain each and every joke and pun? Also, the pace of the book, at least in the first few chapters, were too slow for my choice. I was like 'come on, catch up with the numbers and whereabouts of the deaths already!' Once the reader has all the information, it is very frustrating to see the various characters catching up with all those, that too so slowly!
Disclaimer: I am pointing out the above things only because I immensely liked the story and the issues that it dealt with,otherwise I wouldn't have bothered!

[Natalie MT]

Writing style is one of the most important factors in whether or not I enjoy a book. Fleisher's choices seem less like a distinctive style and more like choices made to make up for underdeveloped literary ability. Ellipses and choppy chapters can be used pretty effectively to help build suspense, when used sparingly. As Fleisher gets more comfortable writing, I think he'll begin to realize that those techniques are over used and he can work on his style development.

[CommMayo]

Grammar issues always distract from the plot for me.

[sarah92480]

I also felt that it was hard to read at times. In addition, the enormous amount of pop culture or current culture references were really distracting, and - in my opinion anyway - detracts from the book's ability to be relevant in the future without a bunch of research by the reader.

[[Valerie Allen]]

Hmm... Indeed, there were moments that I noticed your point of reference to the author's writing style, but I skimmed over it.

[chupke07]

I completely agree with you! It definitely takes away from the goal of the book. I also found the strong political message distracting.

[CheyenneR]

The biggest distractions were when the author broke the fourth wall and directly addressed the reader. I found it really ruined my flow while reading and was thankful he only did it twice. I also found that when he said things like..."(they both laughed)" it was distracting as well. It felt clunky and out of place, it just didn't fit with the rest of the writing style.

[Storm+]

I found the overuse of ellipses and parentheses and choppy narration extremely distracting. The story was really well-written for the most part, but I feel as though the book would have been much more enjoyable had these problems not been so consistent within the text. The main point would have been driven home much better had the narration been more clean and easy to read. It was very frustrating for me, and was the main reason I didn't rank the book higher than I did.