irresistible things, #3
Weird shit, or the author having fun
There are few experiences more enjoyable than to witness someone having a blast doing something they love. Especially when they’re good at it! It’s hard to put your finger on precisely what this means, but you know it when you see it, quite like Justice Stewart’s definition of obscenity. A bizarre premise, a twist that pokes at your suspension of disbelief, a particularly odd or loathsome character. The point is, it’s fun to watch someone make choices unapologetically.
Hats off to my first mention for a premise so wacky, you might think I’m joking if you aren’t familiar with the author. The world of China Miéville’s Railsea is composed of solid land separated by oceans, well and good. Thing is, those oceans are made of railroad tracks. Yes, that’s what I said.
The tracks are as tangled and hard to navigate as you might expect, being THE OCEAN, and so deep and vast. Did anyone mention they’re patrolled by giant, man-eating moles? These vicious titans are known as moldywarpes because honestly: of course they are.
That’s just the setting, not the actual plot. Aside from the mole-whalers and the crews of ancient-tech junk salvagers that no self-respecting trash planet can be without, a swashbuckling oceanic adventure wouldn’t be complete without pirates. Railsea has ancient mysteries to chase, moldywarps to evade. In a word, it’s weird, and that’s a compliment from my perspective.
Anything by Sir Terry Pratchett
Yeah, it’s awfully broad for a subcategory. No regrets! Like any satirist worth their salt, he has a talent for combining whimsy with powerful insights. Pratchett, though, possesses a special magic unique to him. I would put forth the theory that we have so much fun reading his works because he had fun writing them.
Night Watch, for example, is a heartbreaking story about the lost innocence of an entire generation. But it isn’t just the essential unfairness of everything that sticks with you when you put it down. You’ll also find yourself reciting the motto of the People’s Republic of Treacle Mine Road: Truth, Freedom, Justice, Reasonably-Priced Love, and a Hard-Boiled Egg.
My family still uses the term BCB’s, a technical term from the suet-mining industry. It stands for Burnt Crunchy Bits, everyone’s favorite food group. Then there’s Death, by turns resigned and depressed to be the ultimate arbiter of mortality.
That’s just a few examples, but I feel like you should understand what I mean now when I say: it’s one quality that can make a novel irresistible, that the author tangibly enjoyed creating it.
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