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About the author and blogger ...

Anne Goodwin’s drive to understand what makes people tick led to a career in clinical psychology. That same curiosity now powers her fiction.
A prize-winning short-story writer, she has published three novels and a short story collection with small independent press, Inspired Quill. Her debut novel, Sugar and Snails, was shortlisted for the 2016 Polari First Book Prize.
Away from her desk, Anne guides book-loving walkers through the Derbyshire landscape that inspired Charlotte Brontë’s Jane Eyre.
Subscribers to her newsletter can download a free e-book of award-winning short stories.

TELL ME MORE

Do spoilers spoil?  We Are All Completely Beside Ourselves by Karen Joy Fowler

3/12/2014

20 Comments

 
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At college in 1996 California, Rosemary has grown accustomed to other people finding her a little odd. But she reckons they’d find her even odder if they knew about the unusual circumstances of her childhood. So, despite having been a chatterer since she knew how to speak, she tends to keep quiet. There’s also much that goes unspoken in her family home back in Bloomington, Indiana, especially regarding the whereabouts of her sister, Fern, who she hasn’t seen since she was five years old, and of her older brother, Lowell, who left suddenly ten years ago. It’s only when she is arrested after a fellow student runs amok in the university canteen that twenty-two-year-old Rosemary dares to look back at her past, beginning with when she was sent to stay with her grandparents and returned to find Fern gone.

Even if you haven’t yet read this novel, you might nevertheless have some notion of the plot, either from the publicity about the Booker-prize shortlist or the concerns expressed in the blogosphere about those professional reviews that have prematurely revealed the twist. Like most book bloggers of my acquaintance, I don’t intend to give the game away here; although I seem to be in the minority in that it was the spoiler that drew me to the novel. It reminded me of my own university studies in the late 1970s, a period of great innovation in experimental psychology. Rosemary and Fern have been part of such an experiment since infancy, growing up not only with their brother and parents but with a large coterie of graduate students attending to their every utterance and move.

This is a page-turning novel that is both moving and amusing. Rosemary’s voice is fresh and lively, addressing the reader directly as “you” without any self-conscious stolen-head artifice. It’s a wonderful exploration of developmental psychology, research ethics, memory, coming-of-age and what it means to be human. But mostly it’s about family and particularly the strong emotional bond between siblings, an intense mélange of love, jealousy and rivalry with potentially devastating consequences.

I’ve been curious about the marketing decisions around this novel because my own forthcoming debut, Sugar and Snails, also contains an intriguing twist. Long before I had a publisher, I fluctuated between a sense that “letting the cat out of the bag” (note – there is a cat but that’s not the twist) might tempt more people to buy it versus wanting the reader to have the pleasure of discovering this “secret” for themselves. When I asked Claire King about this issue in relation to the publication of her debut, The Night Rainbow, she said that there’d been a deliberate decision to concentrate on the unreliable narration rather than any potential “twist”.

On page 77 of We Are All Completely Beside Ourselves, Rosemary not only tells the reader what she has held back but why:

Some of you will have figured that out already. Others may feel it was irritatingly coy of me to have withheld …
I spent the first eighteen years of my life defined by this one fact … I had to move halfway across the country in order to leave that fact behind. It’s never going to be the first thing I share with someone.
But much, much more important, I wanted you to see how it really was.

I could make a similar case for Diana in Sugar and Snails. She’s not going to tell the reader straightaway about something she hates to think about, something she hasn’t shared with her best friend of almost thirty years.

In this prepublication interview for The Bookseller, Karen Joy Fowler acknowledges the difficulty of promoting a book of this nature. Yet, in the Booker-prize shortlist publicity, such as this piece in The Guardian newspaper, although still not revealing the spoiler, she’s been much less cagey regarding what the novel’s about. Was she coming perilously close to spoiling her own novel?

A small study of the impact of spoilers on enjoyment of short stories, suggests there’s nothing to worry about. Not only did the spoilers fail to spoil the reader’s pleasure, readers actually preferred the spoiled version:
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© Professor Nicholas Christenfeld San Diego University
I’d be interested to know whether the same applies to novels.

Thanks to Serpent’s Tail for my review copy of We Are All Completely Beside Ourselves. If you haven’t already read this novel, I strongly recommend that you do. Do let me know what you think about spoilers and if you have any recommendations of other fiction addressing relationships between siblings. If that’s your thing, you might also be interested in my short stories The Ruler in My Head and How’s Your Sister? and in Tracey Scott Townsend’s debut novel The Last Time We Saw Marion
Thanks for reading. I'd love to know what you think. If you've enjoyed this post, you might like to sign up via the sidebar for regular email updates and/or my quarterly Newsletter.
20 Comments
Safia link
3/12/2014 06:32:51 am

It took me so long to get to this book on my TBR list that I'd forgotten reading a spoiler review until the revelation, and then I had this, 'Ah, this is the one about the ...' moment. I also loved this book and have included it as one of my top 10 reads of 2014 over at topofthetent.com. I'm now going to add a link to this post of yours, technology permitting. Great post, Anne - interesting graphic there!

Reply
Annecdotist
4/12/2014 03:01:44 am

That sounds the ideal way for it to happen, Safia! The spoiler puts it on your radar and then you forget you knew it (I suppose that's how advertising is supposed to work) until that lovely moment of recognition – at least, I'm hoping it was lovely!
I've seen your top ten reads now – thanks for linking back to this.

Reply
Lori Schafer link
3/12/2014 09:57:38 pm

Interesting commentary on the nature of spoilers and what effect they have on reader assessments. My recent publishing experiences - which I will eventually post about at great length - has led me to believe that readers are not necessarily impressed by good books, but rather by books that meet their expectations. Sounds strikingly similar to what you describe here, with readers actually preferring spoiled versions. Very, very interesting.

Reply
Annecdotist
4/12/2014 03:06:21 am

I hadn't thought of it that way, Lori, but it makes perfect sense. So many readers are looking for more of the same, which is why series are so popular.
Yet I don't think it would work like that for literary fiction, would it? And it didn't work for me that way with WAACBO (or at least I think so). But meeting expectations Is important for most reading experiences, hence my disappointment a couple of posts ago in a novel I thought didn't fit the title.
I'm looking forward to you expanding this further in your post. I've also contacted the authors of the study to see if they've done any additional research. Very interesting area indeed.

Reply
NorahColvin link
4/12/2014 04:39:41 am

This does sound like a book for me, Anne. I don't think I would mind if I read the spoiler, but I can't be sure. I think I have had similar experiences to Safia. I tend to take the general impression of whether I would like a book or not, and forget the details, maybe remembering what I had heard during reading, but sometimes not. I think if spoiler adds an enticement to read then it's a good thing, but enticing a reader to discover something in the story can also be good. I am intrigued to find out what is behind this one. I'm not sure that I have time to read it. Maybe you should just tell me!!!
I can see I'll have to be more diligent in making a TBR list! You keep suggesting good reads! :)

Reply
Annecdotist
8/12/2014 09:44:09 am

This is the review that first drew me to the novel:
http://www.theguardian.com/books/2014/mar/20/completely-beside-ourselves-family-love-review
But be warned – you don't even have to read it, just look at the picture (which wasn't in the version I saw) to get the hint!

Reply
Caroline Lodge link
6/12/2014 04:27:23 am

Hi Anne,
I loved this book and your review. I think the spoiler debate is an interesting one. It reveals that many people read books for the story alone, and that it must include a surprise. They usually occur later in the book than in We Are All .... And that they get ?most? of their reading pleasure from the surprise.
And yet we have favourite novels, series (as Lori says), and like familiarity.
I think a book must stand up to spoilers, surprises and/or familiarity. Spoiler alerts exist for those who need the surprise.
Caroline

Reply
Annecdotist
8/12/2014 09:49:19 am

Thanks, Caroline. You've made me think that I read for a range of reasons. The writing matters less to me if the story is telling me something of interest; but sometimes we're drawn to a retelling of a well-known story well told. I'd be interested to know if the researchers have delved any deeper into their findings.

Reply
Geoff link
7/12/2014 05:47:30 pm

I'm glad I came back to read this. What an interesting debate you've startred (again). Having Ben privileged to read your book ( many versions ago) I rememebr having the debate with you about bringing the reveal upfront and there being no right answer. Ditto to spoilers. I'm with Lori I think the readers expectations are more important. That said had I known, fr'instance what the end of the Wasp Factory was I woudlnt rememebr it so vividly. And had I known where Gone Girl was going I wouldn't have wasted my time. So I guess it does depend. I wish I'd read spoilers on Stieg Larsson so I wouldn't have spent 600 pages wishing it was only 300 by the end.

Reply
Annecdotist
8/12/2014 09:57:09 am

Thanks, Geoff, I think the reveal comes earlier in my novel now than in the version that you read but I'm sure some people would have preferred to know right from the start. (and some people from whom we hope to seek endorsements WILL be told because of their potential personal interest).
What an important point about those overly long novels that we keep on reading because we hope something interesting is going to happen. Spoilers would certainly help prevent us wasting our time.
As for The Wasp Factory, I was sure I'd read it but no memory of the ending or even the beginning – I must be good at repressing uncomfortable thoughts.

Reply
Helen link
8/12/2014 03:18:56 am

Interesting as always Anne, thank you!
With this particular book I thought the concealed fact was not very concealed, so I didn't exactly fall off my chair when it came out - in fact I thought it was skillfully written to achieve this, in that the narrator had sort of given it away already in leaks and dribbles.
In general I don't mind too much if I see spoilers about twists like this one, but I don't want to hear endings. So, fine to find out in advance about a plot dimension that is prior to the start of the story but is revealed through the story, but please don't tell me if someone dies at the end.

Reply
Annecdotist
8/12/2014 10:01:45 am

Thanks, Helen, and interesting that you read it that way. That's certainly how I'd like readers to experience my forthcoming novel: to gradually guess what's coming so that, when it's confirmed, they were already pretty much there.
And you're right, there's the difference between spoilers as in a midway twist, as with WAACBO, and spoiling the ending, which I agree is a far more serious offence.

Reply
Natasha link
8/12/2014 06:58:39 am

I have to agree with Helen; endings are sacrosanct for me and I suppose the only spoiler I would dislike would be for suspense novels. On the other hand, I read authors because I like their writing and to fall in love with characters. If all the book has is the twist, then the spoiler makes no difference, because I'd stop reading after a certain point.

Reply
Annecdotist
8/12/2014 10:03:29 am

Thanks for commenting, Natasha. Yes, a plot twist can seem a cheap way of attracting readers but it has to be sufficiently well written to keep them there

Reply
Charli Mills
8/12/2014 04:33:03 pm

Your post and comments are interesting. I went to the Guardian review and caught on immediately after seeing the photo and reading a few hints. It's a decision that can go either way. If the twist is so unique, it can be the draw or the surprise. If I were reading a mystery, I'd be disappointed by any spoiler who told me which character "did it." With my own WIP, I have an unexpected, previously undocumented historical revelation. Readers might be disappointed to know that one of the characters gets killed, but that's not the surprise (especially if you know the history of the event). Expectations of readers are more along the lines of understanding why they read and how they want to be entertained or informed. That's what some genres (say, romance for example) are so rigidly formulated--expectation of sexual tension and a happy ending. Literature is much looser and the expectations are more character-driven and even philosophical with often unanswered questions. Knowing your target audience, knowing your genre are key to delivering those reader expectations. Great post and thought here!

Reply
Annecdotist
9/12/2014 09:37:21 am

Thank you, Charli, for the thoughtful (as usual) comments. You’ve added another layer to the discussion by highlighting the nature of the twist and the impact of genre in terms of how we think spoilers will influence our reading (although the research didn’t find any differences between genres). I’m loving how all the reflection further my thinking – although at the same time showing what a complicated area it is.
I think the unexpected twist (whatever it is) will be a great talking point (or judicious avoidance of talking point) for your novel. I know you’re still busy writing, so thanks for dropping by.

Reply
Charli Mills
9/12/2014 11:21:59 am

It's a timely discussion, especially for where I'm at with my writing!

Annecdotist
10/12/2014 12:37:34 am

Me too!

Tracey Scott-Townsend link
10/12/2014 03:38:58 am

A spoiler wouldn't spoil the read of a novel for me if I had no knowledge of the book in the first place, although I suppose it'd be annoying if someone revealed the twist when I was halfway through reading it. I enjoy trying to guess what's really going on from the clues and foreshadowing: 'We Are All Amateur Detectives' after all!

In my current WIP I'm struggling with the decision of whether to reveal the cause of my character's grief early on or to hold it off until the final third of the book.

However, in my first novel, The Last Time We Saw Marion, the 'twist' of Marion's reincarnation is revealed on the very first page and the whole novel is constructed on the struggle of both families to cope with this.
As in We Are All Completely Beside Ourselves, the story is about how an early event impacts so strongly on a character's life, and how it affects family relationships. Ahem, here's a link: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Last-Time-We-Saw-Marion/dp/1908600268/ref=sr_1_1_twi_2?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1418210952&sr=1-1&keywords=the+last+time+we+saw+marion

Reply
Annecdotist
11/12/2014 07:01:54 am

Thanks for joining in, Tracey, and adding yet another dimension to the debate. I agree, a spoiler when you’re already engaged with a novel would be most unwelcome.
As for the reveal in your current WIP, it’s a difficult decision, especially as different readers might suggest different things. Don’t know if you can wait that long, but you might get some sense of potential reactions from seeing what happens with mine.
And more than happy to host the link to your debut. While I love creating links within my posts, despite it being so time-consuming, I’m avoiding going to a certain bookseller – although that will have to change I assume when I have my own novel to market.

Reply



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