Margo Jefferson and Guilty Pleasures
I always love the “By the Book” column in the Sunday NYT. And I especially love the question “Do you count any books as guilty pleasures?” This past week, Margo Jefferson, literary critic and author of the memoir Constructing a Nervous System, had a zinger answer:
“I like good to great thrillers, but when I’m reading a bad one that nevertheless traps me, against my will, in relentless plot mechanics and suspense-mongering, my ego says ‘You’re better than this.’ And my id says, ‘Not today. Deal with it.’”
Ha. I get what she’s saying, and for me it mostly applies to other media, not books —movies, theater, music, etc. In fact, I sort of mentally composed this post while watching Nine Perfect Strangers on Hulu, which I’m assuming employs some tried-and-true “plot mechanics.” (I’m only on episode 1, and full disclosure, I’ve never read anything by Liane Moriarty.) Listen, I love a reliable ABABCB — verse, chorus, verse chorus, bridge, etc. — pop song. I LOVELOVELOVE Broadway musicals. The formula is clear, but that’s ok. However, I do not love books when you can tell that “antagonist enters now!” or “here is the protagonist’s conflict!” I understand most (all?) novels are very purposeful in these “plot mechanics,” but if I, the reader, am able to discern the plot’s skeleton, I gotta pass. (I can only think of a handful of books I’ve read in the past several years that fall into this category anyway…)
So, when you are in need of a “not today, deal with it” moment of entertainment, do you go to books? Or are you like me and scratch that itch with star-studded adaptations and song-and-dance instead?
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