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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]The Loneliness of Sonia and Sunny is far from "mediocre." I read it, and would not only put it as #1 of the books I read last year, but maybe #1 of all of the books I've read the last several years.

And I have an MFA in creative writing with a fiction concentration that I got in a 3-yr program with a lit-heavy component. And my mentor was a relatively famous lit critic. So I feel like I know when a novel could fairly be described as "mediocre."

But to put Sonia and Sunny aside ...

In case you aren't trolling ... why are mediocre books often popular? Because people like an easy read. And brilliant literature is often not an easy read (although sometimes it is). [/quote]

[b]I'm a NYT bestselling author.[/b] I think "good fiction" frequently only shines a light on an experience, rather than taking the reader on a journey from start to finish. Good fiction that does really well not only shines a light, but grabs the reader and takes them on a journey that has some sort of payoff at the end -- be it good, bad or sad. Beyond that, in a social media world filled with constant dopamine hits, most readers don't have the patience anymore for good fiction if it isn't written with a driving narrative.

I'm not saying this is good or bad, just accepting what I have found to be true.[/quote]

Plenty of readers have "the patience" for books that aren't "written with a driving narrative." People still read Proust, FFS. But I can see where a "NYT bestselling author" might be confused about that. [/quote]

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