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My book club went silent after I asked one question about the narrator's reliability

We were hashing out the last 50 pages of our latest read at Sarah's house Tuesday night, and I casually asked if anyone thought the narrator might be lying the whole time. One member slammed her book shut and said I was 'missing the point,' then the whole room just stared at me for a solid 20 seconds. Has anyone else hit a nerve just by bringing up a different take on a book's voice?
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3 Comments
taylor.sean
taylor.sean20d agoMost Upvoted
Whoa, honestly I used to side with her until you laid it out like that.
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clark.alex
clark.alex20d ago
That bit about someone slamming their book shut hits hard... it's like people get personally offended when you poke at the frame of the story instead of just the story itself. I've noticed this especially with books where the narrator has a smooth, charming voice that makes everyone feel comfortable, because questioning their honesty feels like questioning the reader's own trust in people. Maybe that's the real nerve you hit, not about the book but about how they think trust works in real life...
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the_elizabeth
Clark, you're overthinking it. Sometimes a bad narrator is just bad writing.
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