Nom de Plume

My reading goes through phases. When I can’t concentrate on novels, I read short stories. When I can’t focus on short stories, I read Regency romance novels (my not-so-secret vice) and chick lit. And then when I’ve had enough froth, I go back to novels. (This is not to say that all froth is created equal–there’s some great stuff out there!)

The past month or two has been dominated by froth–mainly because I’ve been really busy with work and I want a book to RELAX me. So it was perhaps in the wrong frame of mind that I picked up Jones’ award-winning The Known World.

I say this because I got to page 123 before I gave up–and I strongly suspect this is a personal failing. Winner of the Pulitzer. Receiver of too-numerous-to-count accolades. Strongly recommended by all.

I hated it.

To me, The Known World felt false. To me, it felt like a labored stretch deep into the American literary canon to tell the South’s history from another perspective. Perhaps this was the point–and perhaps this is not a bad thing–but I got lost in its Faulknerian plot. There were, like, forty gazillion characters to keep track of.

More to the point, I was bored. The characters (when I could keep track of them) seemed like caricatures of themselves. Indeed, they felt like people created to make a point rather than to tell a story.

But what I want to know is whether I’m alone here. Has anyone else read this? What were your impressions?