Appeal Factors

     Using appeal factors is an easy way to connect quickly with someone regarding their preferences. Appeal factors speak to the individualized and specific tastes that we all have.  Personally, reading is a way for me to escape to a place where I have a lot of control - I can follow my tastes any way I want.  If I am in the middle of a story and decide its going in a direction I don't like, I can put the book down.  I know what factors appeal to me, and am always on the hunt for books that are "just right."  Sometimes I can get angry or disappointed with books that are not a good fit. If I'm not careful, I can start to think they are badly written, or boring, or weird.  I automatically use appeal factors to find what I like, but I have to remember that there are so many other people's tastes and preferences to think about if I want to participate in a more collective appreciation of books.  Getting outside of your own head and using appeal factors to help a stranger (or a friend) find the right book is like saying "Hey. You're awesome, your tastes are awesome, and I want to help you find a book that reflects that."  Below is a breakdown of the appeal factors for three books that I love.

"The Shadow of the Wind"
This book's tone is florid and fantastical and a little frightening in parts.  It reminded me of Pan's Labyrinth (though not as heavy).   Its pacing immediately draws you into the intrigue of the plot and intense characterization.  The pace remains thrilling throughout the novel, due to a combination of plot twists / intrigue, characterization, and language choice.  The language was sometimes densely poetic, but in a way which drove the story forward and helped to give some specificity to characters who were otherwise created from the plot.  The setting is Barcelona after the Spanish Civil War, in a world where magic and reality are intertwined.  There is a lot of detail -when I heard this I was worried I wouldn't be able to get through the book because it would slow down the pace, but it actually really drives the plot forward.  This was thrilling magical realism, with Gothic intrigue and plenty of romance.

"The Collector"
This book's tone is dry and methodical.  It is not driven by plot so much as the characters -it centers around one man (The "Collector"), and a woman he has kidnapped.  The setting comprises mostly of the space he has confined her in, although in some passages we follow the woman's thoughts and recollections to the outside world.  To me, the main appeal of the book is the author's use of language.  The language and tone of the book are in a way very similar to magical realism.  In magical realism, fantastical events are given the same weight as the mundane, creating a magical world deceptively similar to our own.  In "The Collector," the horror of the main character's mental state is narrated as dryly as if it were exploring a normal mind.  In this way the author points out that to a monstrous person with little human contact, the horrific is normal.  The main character's interactions with the woman he has captured show her pushing back, carefully letting him know that what he has done is not normal, and that its not right.  Although the plot was slow, the pacing of the novel was quickened by the fascinating dynamic between the two characters.  This is a great novel for growing / learning -it puts you in the uncomfortable perspective of someone whose mind is no longer functioning the way it should.  This is a fictional story, but if you are interested in true crime, this book will probably be fascinating to you.

"The Lovely Bones"
Like "The Collector," this book centers around horror that can exist in the most mundane places.  However, the author of "The Lovely Bones" uses language and detail to more deeply explore grief and other emotions that follow horrific events.  The plot, narrated by the ghost of a little girl who has been murdered, explores how the horrific circumstances of her death complicate the grief she, her family, and community feel.  It reads like a mystery, as her family struggles to find answers about how and why she was killed.  Although this is a book about grief and horror, the tone is often sweet, warm, and full of life.  It includes beautiful detail, celebrating the girl's life even though it is lost.  It brings dignity and hope to a traumatic event.  I think this book has a lot of appeal to everyone, because it explores all the range of emotions that accompany unexpected loss, and shows the many ways that people and communities deal with trauma.  I say this because for learning / experiencing it asks readers to grow and expand their mindset to think about the implications of a horror that (thankfully) not everyone has experience with, while also appealing to fundamental emotions and experiences that we all share and empathize with.