I was going to get the book, A Little Life, after a lot of people recommended it to me. My favorite genre of books are dark fiction and non-fiction books that go into the psychological plagues trauma brings upon a persons mind. I read them too to examine how an author dissects a traumatic event or events and brings the characters into those situations and how the characters progress. What always shocks me is seeing how other people react to these books. I suffered severe childhood trauma in various different ways. So reading these books is sometimes comforting, sometimes I read them with the intent to relate to a character, in the thoughts of the character towards an event that others might not have thought one would even experience. But watching some peoples reactions to books like A Little Life, and becoming nauseous or being in disbelief, I find it shocking. What are the experiences of people who read books who did not read it with intent to relate to the character. Why did you pick the book up? Im interested to see the other side of the coin. Does the emotional experiences of the characters resonate with you? Do you see any parallels within your our own life and the characters?
Im just gonna clear something up here since my question was vague- My favorite book is about a girl stranded at sea who came from great privilege. just cause I read it young and Theres a part of the book that stuck with me, not necessarily cause its a literary masterpiece. I have never experienced anything that the girl experiences. THATS WHY- i asked the question. I appreciate all the conversation being had- calling my reading approach shallow is interesting but im comfortable hearing new opinions like that! But, my point with this question wasnt to say u need to see urself in a character to read a book. I am literally just asking other people, what do you experience when you read about a characters horrific experiences, that you dont relate to at all? What goes through your head. I will not however agree with A Little Life conveying trauma porn. In my perspective, and i get how this can be controversial, it is just my opinion; A book about trauma is allowed to be graphic and in depth, because I think IN MY OPINION- the best books about traumatic events are the books that SKILLFULLY dissect an event- dissect the victims and those around them, dissect what caused it, and what comes after it in fine detail. i say my reaction to other peoples reactions is Shocking, because my brain for a good while kind of thought everyone had a traumatic upbringing or experience for a long time- as it was all I knew. Now i know that thats not the case obviously, but its interesting to view how other people digest stories like that. Sorry this is written horribly. Im sick
Johnny got his gun was the harshest traumatic book I’ve read.
Jesus Christ, I just couldn’t relate to the guy’s situation. Got the absolute worst of it, would rather have died.
I picked it up because I was a high school ROTC student and I thought it was a typical WWI book about battles. Boy was I wrong, but I’m glad I read it.
Stories are about conveying the journeys, life events, struggles, joys and conflicting emotions of complex characters. They don’t need to have similar experiences as me, or from the same culture or moral code as I am for me to understand what they go through and enjoy the experience.
It could be a story of a whole upside down moral system in another culture, and I’m still capable of understanding and empathizing or at least valuing the journeys they had and the interesting decisions they made under the impact of all that’s been happening to them.
That said, you don’t need to relate to every character to appreciate their journey. You just need to witness their experience and understand that it’s their journey with all its decisions, morality and emotions and value it for what it is.