Have you ever read a book which seemed like the author had dedicated it to you, despite never having had an interaction with the author besides reading books by them?
Not an "oh, I really identified with or got immersed in the character x in book y" feeling. Not an "oh, this is my favorite book by my favorite author" or even necessarily my favorite book by this author feeling.
Just a sense that for reasons ABCD, split between characters XY and Z and events/callouts, etc. PD and Q that a specific book by a specific author was somehow the one book you've read so far that you could hand to someone and say "read this book if you want to understand my life better". Not the exact specifics, just the zeitgeist, the vibe, the references, certain aspects of different characters, etc.
For me, Richard Powers' novel Playground is the first time that's happened. I've enjoyed several of his previous novels, some of them quite a lot (The Time of our Singing in particular, but others as well).
But for me, Playground- from time spent under water by various characters to games played and discussed, to specific books, the love of books in general, to current and potentially near future events with AI and the internet… it just all clicked for me.
Has this happened before for you? If so, what's the book you'd give to someone wanting to understand your life better in fictionalized form?
by MiddletownBooks
2 Comments
Sally Rooney’s Normal People. They way the characters stumbled and failed to communicate resonated a lot with how I was with my relationships during high school/college time.
Not necessarily, but I do have a weird tendency to go from one book to the next, and tbey’ll have odd connections. Like, a name I rarely ever see in one book will be the name of the main character in another. Or, a game or sport I just learn about in the book I’m reading will be talked about in the next. It freaks me out and I point it out to my husband every time.
He thinks I have some sort of book connected six sense or some shit.