How to Create Suspense: Laura Kasischke's The Raising

Laura Kasischke's 2011 novel The Raising is an absolute page-turner. I raced through the last two hundred pages, both dreading what was coming next and needing to know. I'm not usually a big fan  of horror, but Kasischke's prose is so fluid and engaging that I was drawn in from the opening pages. That and the constant cliffhangers - which, admittedly, began to feel somewhat manipulative somewhere around the middle of the novel.

Kasischke's cliffhanger technique reminded me of Mary Higgins Clark novels that I read in college. Multiple narrative points of view - interlaced with suspense - means that the narrative shifts just as something interesting is about to happen. Each cliffhanger/shift would send me racing through the next section because I wanted to know what had happened to the character we'd just left behind. Then, just as I had become interested in another thread of the story, it would shift again.

I'm guessing this is pretty common to horror and suspense fiction. Indeed, it's a pretty common technique in fiction (see, for example, almost any novel by Trollope) because it's an effective way to build suspense. 

What struck me most about Kasischke's novel, however, was the sheer number of smaller chunks of narrative point of view or chronology that she was balancing. The novel is divided into a hundred or so chapters, as well as six sections, and Kasischke balances both multiple chronologies and points of view. There are 5 main narrative points of view - and even more characters with backstory - and absolutely everyone gets fully fleshed out. Not only does she move between those points of view, but the chronology is completely fragmented so you don't learn about the events that began the narrative until the end. 

And all the narrative units are balanced masterfully here, even managing to camouflage what is ultimately an overly complicated storyline. It wasn't until

I was recounting the plot to my husband in chronological order that I realized how much too much it all was. As I was reading it, I was totally along for the ride.

And all of this made me start wondering about the writer's process. How does one construct, storyboard, and keep track of such an elaborate narrative? Is it all carefully planned out in advance or does the writer create first a straightforward narrative and then slice it up and fit it back together like a jigsaw puzzle until just the right effect has been created? I kind of like the idea of jigsaw puzzle writing, but the narrative process is probably much more deliberate than that. Considering the degree of control Kasischke commands over the narrative, I imagine that the sense of skilled orchestration in the final third of her novel doesn't happen by accident.

Put on Hold: The Library Ebook Borrowing Dilemma

In general, I prefer reading books in print, except when I'm traveling. As I've discussed in the past, whenever I'm on the road, I would infinitely rather bring my Kindle along loaded with a few books to read or not--depending on my mood. That's the main thing: I never quite know what my reading mood is going to be when I'm on the road, and I almost never actually want to read what I've brought with me. That's mostly because I tend to bring books with me out of obligation--i.e., books that I feel I should read rather than books I want to read. (A topic that I've talked about at length here.)

So, bringing my Kindle along is the perfect solution, and I love that I can check books out electronically through my public library and Overdrive. In theory, when I decide that I'm not really interested in whatever critical study I've brought with me, I can download the chick lit novel that I might actually enjoy.

The only problem is that I never want to read any of the books that are available for checkout at any given moment. As a result, I search through the options and wind up putting a the handful of books I'd actually like to read on hold for the future. Unfortunately, by the time those books are available, I'm usually in the midst of some other book or a busy semester and have no time to read.

Here's what I wish: that when you put books on hold--either ebooks or, for that matter, any books from the library--you could set a target date. That way, if your book becomes available earlier, it would just move to the next patron. Then, when your target date arrives, you would move to the front of the queue.

I know, I know. That would be a logistical nightmare for libraries and whoever manages the queues for ebooks. I also know that I could buy books for my Kindle...but I can dream, can't I?

Somebody's Top 100 Mysteries, But Not Mine

From The Circular Staircase by Mary Roberts Rhinehart (1908). 

http://hdl.handle.net/2027/mdp.39015002717935?urlappend=%3Bseq=30

When I saw a link on Twitter asking if I had read the top 101 crime novels of all time, of course I clicked on it. The quiz is based on a list of the 100 top mysteries of all time compiled by Mystery Writers of America (for some reason, it's actually 101). When I took the quiz, I was surprised only to score a 32 because I'm a pretty devoted mystery reader.

And then I realized what was missing from the list: women. Ok, it's not that there aren't any women on the list--there are, in fact, 23 books authored by women on the list. However, it is still an overwhelmingly male list, and it also doesn't really represent the kinds of mysteries that I like. Why are there so many Graham Greene and John Le Carré titles on the list? I know both Greene and Le Carré are very popular, but their spy thrillers tend to put me to sleep. Where's Anna Katherine Green's That Affair Next Door? Josephine Tey's Miss Pym Disposes? M.M. Kaye? Patricia Wentworth? How on earth did Sara Paretsky not make the list? And, why is Margery Allingham only on the secondary, "recommended" list?

There are a lot of really good mysteries on that list, but, on the whole, it doesn't look at all like the must-read list that I would put together. Maybe I'll have to get to work on that...

What would you add?