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/lit/ - Literature

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804504 No.804504 [Reply] [Original]

E/lit/ists, what do you do when people ask you what a book is about, when the book's plot is really complex?
I'd rather not have to explain everything to them, but I feel like giving them the barebones wouldn't do some books justice. And just shoving the back cover/inside flaps into their face seems kind of rude.
Pic unrelated, I suppose.

>> No.804530
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804530

>>804504
im with you op i have the same problem and i never know what to say.

>> No.804557

op's not a fag
people would ask me about 1984 and i'd just tell them that it's a mind fuck without the thousand details

>> No.804569

Tell them it's about a doctor who falls in love with a dying patient.

>> No.804631

I say "It's kind of difficult to explain." then I try to explain it, and let them read the back/inside cover. If they aren't disinterested by then, I talk to them about the book, or ask what they are reading. Usually after I attempt to explain it, they leave me alone though.

>> No.804651

Basic formula: It's about a girl/boy/man/woman who does _____ (something the main character does.)

Aaaand you're done!

>> No.804670

I piss on their knees and run.
They never ask about my books again.

>> No.804680

Show them the summary on the flap.

>> No.804725

>>804569
That sound an awful lot like the plot of this album Hospice

>> No.805559

I also kinda have trouble with this, but people aren't usually looking for a complex answer.

>> No.805571

People aren't looking for essay-length descriptions. I hate when I ask someone, "What are you reading?" and they talk at me for 20 minutes about warlocks and elves in distress. I'm trying to be polite by asking you. Give me a setting and a brief synopsis of the major story arc, nothing more.

>> No.805576

I tell them to read the book and find out.

>> No.805587

I was reading American Gods when someone asked me what it was about. I was only 50 pages in, so I didn't even know what it was about. And the back cover isn't descriptive at all.

On the other hand, I was reading The Count of Monte Cristo when someone asked me what it was about. That was a fun explanation that left the person stunned.

Most of the time I'll just make them read the back cover.

>> No.805602

Someone asked me that when I was reading Ulysses, after about only 35 pages in. Awkward silence ensued...