I Read It My Way

I have a secret to confess. It has to do with Death of the Author, Nnedi Okorafor's absolutely fantastic novel that I urge you to read–if you’re not intimidated by long books. And even if you are--c'mon, get over that!

It tells the story of Zelu, a grumpy-grouchy, self-absorbed, never quite happy even though she has plenty to be happy about, best-selling novelist who lives in Chicago, surrounded by her large and loudly opinionated Nigerian-American family, who’re nurturing and infuriating. Usually at the same time.

Interspersed within Zelu's narrative is Rusted Robots, a novel within the novel that she, Zelu, wrote. Though, of course, Okorafor wrote that novel as well.

And here’s my confession..

After a couple of chapters of Rusted Robots, I stopped reading it. That is correct. I found Zelu's story too compelling to put off. I had to see what came next. And I was too impatient to wait while reading the novel within the novel.

In short, I didn’t follow the rules of reading. One of which is...

Read it as it lays! To paraphrase Joan Didion.

Now, I must confess to another secret…

This is not the first time I broke the rules of reading. In fact, my own personal first rule of reading is that there are no rules of reading. So, technically, I haven't broken anything.

Please forgive me, Nnedi Okorafor...

Yes, after almost 60 (that's 60 with a six) years of reading novels, I’ve decided to make like Frank Sinatra and read it my way. And so…

Sometimes I don’t finish a book I start. Sometimes I decide a book's too long and my life's too short to read another page and so that's it, I'm done. Even if l have another 200 pages to go. And sometimes I actually–oh, enough confessed reading secrets for the day. 

I realize Okorafor might be upset to read that I skipped ahead--or not. After all, Death of the Author is the same title as an influential essay by Roland Barthes, a French literary scholar, who argued that the “ultimate meaning” of any text is not what the writer intends. But what the reader makes of it.

In any event, I read the novel within the novel after I finished Zelu’s personal narrative. And it all made sense.

Again, I urge you to buy the book, or check it out of the library. And if you want to read it straight through, one page at a time, like you’re supposed to read it, do it.

Remember–it’s your reading experience. Read it anyway you want.