“First of all: Meagan, I’m sorry!
Couldn’t do it.
The way this books is set up, you’ve got your (very fun, well-drawn) somewhat fictionalized, comic-book-itized story, and then you’ve got extensive footnotes that outline the real info these scenes are based on.
I just couldn’t read that way.
For me it’s like trying to read two books at once: I’ve got this book over here, I read a paragraph, then a paragraph of this other, and I couldn’t build a rhythm. I would sort of lose the pace and the thread in the comic when I read the footnotes, then I’d do the same thing when I read the comic again.
I’m going to talk about the book as a way to solve a problem, so hang with me a second:
If the problem was telling this fantastical comic book story while also telling the real-life story of these characters, the solution of footnotes didn’t work with me.
I think, however, that the problem was that the comic story, though good, was enhanced by knowing these real-life characters on a level that most people just don’t. So, the solution was to put the real-life information in with the comic book. But…that didn’t work either.
I suspect the best way for me to experience this would probably be to read all the way through, alternating between the comic and the footnote, then go back and read the comic straight through. I think that’s what I’d need to do to read this, and…I’m too lazy a reader to read a book twice in a row in order to enjoy it once.
However, this is all with the caveat that this style of reading didn’t work for me, but that doesn’t mean it’s inherently bad or wrong as a way to tell a story. I think it’s a worthwhile thing to try, and it does seem to work for a lot of readers.
When you do something that’s pretty different with your story, it’s going to narrow the appeal. And that’s cool. I think we’re in an era where we can have lots of books with narrow appeal, and that’ll serve our needs better than lots of books with wide appeal. Publishing and distribution are much easier now, and we can get more niche and more narrow as readers.
Not for me, but if you love it, I’m happy for you, and your brain and mine do things differently.”