Raising the white flag ....

It's not often I put a book down in the middle. In fact, I can think of only one other time I've done it. But yesterday, I finally admitted defeat. For more than TWO MONTHS I'd been trying to power my way through this book on MP3 and I finally gave up on "Reading Lolita in Tehran."


Of the 120-some-odd "chapters" of the MP3 player, I made it to 79. So about 2/3 of the way through. Not BAD ... but I just couldn't finish.

The thing that gets me is ..... this was a bestseller. I'm not sure HOW, but it was. I'm not saying the book is bad by any means .... it's just .... slow. It starts in the present, then flashes back to her book club, then flashes back more and then flashes back even MORE. Um, confusing. And rambling. There was a point when she introduced a student, then went on for a chapter about the student's favorite book. I groaned OUT LOUD while I was on my exercise bike at the Y when this happened.

I feel like SUCH a jerk. Because the material is interesting. It's just SO SLOW MOVING. I told Erik I'd make a good person to abridge the book. Get out my butchering knife, because there was a lot of fat that could have been trimmed from the 2/3 that I read.

Just as a point of comparison (because I'm a dork like that), Harry Potter book 7 is about 21.5 hours in audio form. This book was 18.5 in audio form. Does that give you a feel for it? I couldn't get ENOUGH of HP7, but this ... zzzzzzzzzzzz.

Ok, I'm officially a jerk. Azar Nafisi, if you're reading this, I'm sure you're a lovely author ... your writing style is so lovely ... but it was just too long!

I feel like I need to make up for my literary meanness, so I'm going to head to the library and see what I can find today that tickles my fancy.