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Dissecting An American Marriage

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an image of an open book with a fountain pen balanced on top
Photo by Max Pixel, CC0

As author Tayari Jones has herself pointed out, An American Marriage, winner of the 2019 Women’s Prize for Fiction and an Oprah Book Club 2.0 selection, was a “breakthrough” nearly two decades in the making, reaching an audience many times over that of three previous well-regarded novels. For that reason, as well as the tale’s topical backdrop, the dissection crew was eager to explore how a devoted novelist remained true to her voice while still managing to capture the zeitgeist of the times.

“How did the author do it?” is the key question behind all of our discussions. And in this case, over a four-day period, it became clear that, despite quibbles over a narrative structure that at times created distance from the story action, Jones achieved her due by focusing on three aspects that elevated her story:

  • Jones crafted an intimate, heartfelt story against the backdrop of a larger, intractable menace.
  • She developed realistic, flawed characters whose rich backstories enhance the story and challenge the reader.
  • She continually opened up her story in surprising ways, raising stakes and ratcheting up the tension.

While I promise to keep final novel outcomes hidden, fair warning that *spoilers* do lurk in the following samplings of the group’s discussion of these attributes. [Read more…]

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Dissecting In The Woods

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How many conventions can a crime novel break and still be satisfying for genre fans? How can an author make up for or even prepare the reader for the sting of flouting deeply-held expectations? The Writer Unboxed Breakout Novel Dissection (BND) crew discussed this at length regarding Tana French's debut novel, In The Woods. We are a Facebook book club for writers; four times a year we choose a breakout novel to take apart using questions derived from Donald Maass’s craft books. This novel's … [Read more...]

Dissecting The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society

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The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society, though far from being a mystery novel, still managed to perplex the WU Breakthrough Novel Dissection Group more than nearly any of our prior reads. While the concept of the story, which explores England's emergence from the harsh shadow of WWII, holds a natural appeal, we were confused at how a novel so highly regarded, both within our group and with readers around the globe, could break so many rules we've come to expect of our reads. Given its … [Read more...]

Dissecting A Gentleman in Moscow

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If the ability to get people talking is the measure of success of a novel, then A Gentleman in Moscow was clearly a hit with the WU's Breakout Novelist Book Dissection Group, generating more comments than any of our previous reads. Then again, given the authorial machinations hidden beneath the surface of a blithe and bubbling narrative, perhaps it isn't all that surprising. Our crew of writerly explorers gobbled up the breadcrumbs author Amor Towles left behind, intent on understanding how the … [Read more...]

Dissecting THE MARTIAN

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A storm just whipped up on a planet far enough from home it’s taken you months just to arrive. In those moments on the red planet, your captain declares the winds unsafe and orders evacuation, but an errant communication tower spears you through. Out of reach for rescue, assumed to be dying, you are abandoned with no hope of rescue, and no plan for sustainability, alone on Mars. What word comes to mind? The opening line of Andy Weir’s The Martian sums up, in four words of spicy vernacular, … [Read more...]

Dissecting The Goldfinch

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While it might be more apt to describe Donna Tartt's novel The Goldfinch as anchored by time, place and character, rather than constricted as the word "tether" implies, I couldn't resist a reference to the enigmatic painting at the center of this epic tale that recently swept the literary world. Not only did The Goldfinch win the Pulitzer Prize in 2014, it won readers over as well, enough to entice the WU Breakout Novel Book Dissection group to take on the novel as our second read of 2017. As … [Read more...]

Dissecting A Man Called Ove

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Don’t worry, no men called Ove will be harmed and no physical guts revealed in this post, but we will expose some of the techniques Frederik Backman used to craft his breakout novel, A Man Called Ove: he told a compelling “domestic” story without An Antagonist he made omniscient point of view feel as intimate as first person. he masterfully wove past and present. Therese has asked the WU Breakout Novel Book Dissection group--a group that gets together 4 times a year on Facebook, … [Read more...]