Book Club Recap: The Sight of You by Holly Miller
Dear Lovers, Haters, and Nit-Pickers!
After reading several books that were on the more serious/darker side, our November book club pick was—despite its sad ending—a more lighthearted one.
As always, our discussion was lively and our thoughts on the book versatile.
Some of us liked it, some liked it with caveats, and others…well, it wasn’t their cup of tea. That said, we surely learned from this book—as we did from all our previous picks, and these are our takeaways:
INEFFICIENT PROLOGUE
The book opens with a prologue, which we later on (much later on—in the last 1/3 of the book, which we agreed was too late) realize is actually Callie’s postcards to Joel. Most of us found this to be confusing. Not that we minded the foreshadowing (actually, some foreshadowing would have sparked up narrative drive—more on that in just a second), it was that the foreshadowing was inefficiently done—it was unclear. From the text of the postcard, the reader can’t gauge what happened, are these people together or not, what obstacles they’re facing or what is at stake for them. In other words, it doesn’t plant a clear question inside the reader’s head that would ignite the reader’s interest in what happens, and how it comes to happen.
We’ve all heard the golden rule—no prologues, unless they serve a specific purpose. This was a good example of a prologue that didn’t live up to its intended purpose. If the author had, for instance, written a prologue foreshadowing the dream Joel had about Callie (even if it was in vague terms, e.g. “Never had I imagined seeing the love of my life die. Not when she was lying next to me in bed…”) then we would be reading on with the sense of urgency to find out how and why this happens, and what it means for them to stay together/go their separate ways.
THE STRUCTURE OF THE BOOK
Another golden rule writers often hear is, don’t break the writing rules if you’re not going to break them purposefully and artfully. That goes for many things, including story structure. In her book ‘Wired for Story’ Lisa Cron explains the neuroscience behind story—and how the reader engages with it; there are certain expectations the reader comes to story with. When the book doesn’t meet those expectations, it can be jarring, often to the extent of putting the book down.
One of those things is the narrative structure. The reader expects the story to have its ups and downs in familiar places, and is ready to let innovative structure slide only if the immersive effect of the story trumps the jarring effect of the unusual structure.
In this book, the author divides the narrative into four parts: 1/ the falling for each other phase, 2/ being together phase, 3/ break-up mourning phase, 4/ moving on phase. Unlike our other book club read, One True Loves by Taylor Jenkins Reid, which also had a four-part structure, some of us felt that this structure didn’t work as well in this book. It underplayed the theme of the novel (the high-concept premise of knowing exactly when you’ll lose the one you love) and because of that, the story lagged and dragged in places, losing its pacing.
For instance, if the author had used the classic three-act structure instead, the first act could be falling in love (against Joel’s decision he’ll never date anyone seriously again), the second part (starting at around 25%) would be them getting together (despite the fact that Joel might dream about Callie’s death. The dream would be the climax, coming around 50% into the book), and the third part would be the break-up (at around 75%) and its aftermath. This would’ve made the inciting incident clearer, and really deliver on the story premise.
HIGH CONCEPT HOOK—AND ISSUES WITH DELIVERING ON THE PREMISE
What drew me to this book (and why it sat on my TBR list until it ultimately became the book club pick) is the high concept hook—If you knew you’d lose your loved one, would you bother with falling for them in the first place?
High concept books are those that have conflict embedded in their very premise, and this is one of those books. Problem is, the book we read isn’t what was promised in this high concept at all.
The jacket copy says: “Their story is just beginning. But he’s already seen how it ends.” Most of us assumed that the main story question would be: Knowing that he’ll lose her soon, will Joel find the strength to love Callie nonetheless? —when in reality, the main story question was Can Joel let Callie in in the first place? —and then, at around halfway through the book, it turns into something else— Can Joel let people in, like he has let Callie in?
Those of us who’ve read the book jacket copy before reading the book felt cheated out of the story we set out to read.
Those of us who hadn’t read the blurb prior to reading the book, were confused about what this book was about and struggled with turning the pages. Which leads us to the next issue:
NARRATIVE DRIVE
Especially in the first half of the novel, there were a lot of chapters that didn’t end on a cliff-hanger, or plant any sort of question in readers’ heads on what will happen next.
It was only with revealing the dream to us that we wondered what would happen with them—will they manage to go on together, will they separate, if they separate, how will they survive without each other, and of course—will Callie die in the end.
For this very reason, we should have been informed about the dream way sooner (the author could have used the prologue to foreshadow the dream, and also the author could’ve used the bland endings of chapters when the characters are falling in love, with Joel asking himself instead—what if I dream about Callie’s death? What would I do then? Would it be worth it?)
What the author tried to do is withhold information to build suspense (what would the dream be?)—but she withheld context instead and left us without the most juicy part of this novel—dealing with loving someone who you know will die (The Fault in Our Stars, anyone??).
For instance, the author tried to build suspense and anticipation with Joel not telling Callie he loved her. But since we were in his POV half of the time, we knew he loved her, and so that suspense fell flat. Instead, if he were thinking about potentially dreaming about her—about seeing her die, and what his options would be in that event, we could have gone through the full circle of this dilemma with him.
This is one of the issues I come across as a book coach often—withholding context in order to build suspense. Most of the times, it isn’t the blow of seeing something awful happen that stirs the reader’s emotions (in this case, the dream that Callie will die—we know that from the jacket copy anyway) it’s how the characters will deal with what happens, how it will change them… what they’ll learn in the process that stirs us the most.
ALTERNATING POV
While we’re at alternating POV, most members said they loved how it served the story, but we also agreed that the voices weren’t sufficiently specific to each of the POV characters, and that we struggled at times, figuring out in whose POV we are—despite clear markings ahead of chapters.
CHARACTER ARCS
So far, we’ve raised a lot of issues. But there were also things very well done in the book, and one of them, the members agreed, were the character arcs. Callie goes from someone who plays it safe, but who would like to be just a little bit more like her friend Grace—someone who grabs life by the horns. The events of the novel (especially knowing that she will die young) ultimately force her to live her life to the fullest, inside the moment, going for things she wants and cares for, now. From the soul-crushing breakup with Joel, she goes on to live a full and happy life—cherishing each second of it. Some members did wonder, though, if it was realistic that one would be so relaxed knowing that your very next moment might be your last—but I think this is a matter of personality more than it is a matter of character believability (as is one other thing—if it were realistic that she wouldn’t have liked to know when she dies; the answers in the book club were polarized—if it were them, some members said they would want to know, some wouldn’t).
As for Joel (who, despite the alternating POVs was the real protagonist of the novel—the person with most to lose, the person who had to tackle the problem and wrestle it to the ground, the person this story belongs to) his character arc, we agreed was—learning to let people in. Like Callie told him, “Let people love you, Joel.” He ends up doing just that—opening up to people, and for one, I can’t get over the fact that Callie stops being one of them.
One of the members raised an interesting question: would Joel and Callie have met their character arcs if they hadn’t split up? Most of us thought that Callie might have (Joel encouraged her to travel and take the job in Waterfen anyway), but Joel wouldn’t. It was in the running from his thoughts about Callie, that he decides to tackle his issues—through surfing, outdoor activities, healthy eating, etc. First, these activities serve as a way to take his mind off her, but later on they’re just a new way of life—bringing a more well-balanced, happy and healthy Joel about.
THE DESCRIPTIONS
There were some very evocative and engaging descriptions, both in terms of nature, and in terms of describing feelings and physical attraction—the author does a great job of creating romantic suspense, and building sexual tension.
THE COZY FEEL OF THE BOOK
One huge positive side of this book is that it felt cozy. It was just the type of novel you want to curl up on the couch with, safely tucked under the blanket. The themes in this book are less layered than some of our previous, more difficult reads, which isn’t necessarily a bad thing—it made for a comfortable, romantic, and warm reading experience. Most of us rooted for Joel and Callie and connected with these characters, and we wanted them to succeed and be happy—together or apart. The love story—with its theme of true love and the one who got away—resonated with those of us who are, well… hopeless romantics.
GENRE WOES—COMMERCIAL vs. UPMARKET?
We agreed that this was our most commercial pick so far. It’s definitely not chick-lit, though, due to its ending, overarching theme, and overall quality of writing.
In terms of genres, we often say that it’s the quality of writing and innovating craft rules that push a book up on an upmarket/literary scale. This book played with innovating some rules (though not always successfully) but it still sits firmly in the commercial realm—mostly due to a commercial voice and the lack of layering in its overarching theme (which basically means that, when the author could have gone deeper in exploring one theme, she added another theme instead).
Hope you enjoyed this recap. Until next time, keep safe and read on!
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Did you read this book? Would you side with the Lovers, Haters, or Nitpickers? Let me know in the comments!
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