Welcome everyone :) Things may be a little slow at the moment as I am in my last few months of school so I am swamped with work and exams but if you had time to leave a comment it would make my day!

Thursday, 2 June 2011

Discussion Post: Dual Narrative

I am a sucker for dual narrative. I love love love it! Some of my favourite books have dual narrative. I think I love it because it adds another dimension to the novel and it allows to see extra information as well as get to know the main characters more intimately. 


Perfect Chemistry is a wonderful example of dual narrative done right. As it a hate to love relationship it shows the development of Alex and Brittany's feelings and at what stage their feelings changed.






A less traditional form of dual narrative is Thirteen Reasons Why by Jay Asher. It alternates between Hannah's tapes containing the reasons why she committed suicide and Clay's reactions. It made the book that much more dramatic and haunting.





The Noughts and Crosses series isn't quite dual narration. Over the series there are multiple narrators in the books, some characters only narrating once. It just gave the story a more rounded feel and felt very detailed. An awesome series.




What do you think about dual narration? What are your favourite dual narrative novels?


Posted by at
Labels:

9 comments:

  1. Anonymous2 June 2011 at 00:14

    I totally agree! I LOVE dual narrative. Without it I don't think that you get the full story. Like with The Summer I Turned Pretty series. The first book is in one narrative and then the next two it's dual. I felt like I got a whole lot more out of the story that way. It's nice to see how both characters feel about a situation instead of just guessing. Great post!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Gina @ My Precious2 June 2011 at 00:32

    I enjoy dual narratives a lot. One of the latest ones out is "Forbidden".

    ReplyDelete
  3. Diana 2 June 2011 at 01:01

    I totally enjoy reading books in dual narrative form :) I'm with you on Perfect Chemistry... I ADORED that book!

    ReplyDelete
  4. Melissa (i swim for oceans)2 June 2011 at 03:27

    I think that - when done well - it adds so much depth to the book. There's a fine line though. Great discussion! :)

    ReplyDelete
  5. Julia @ That Hapa Chick2 June 2011 at 06:46

    I LOVE dual narrative!!! My favorite dual narrative books are Across the Universe by Beth Revis, My Most Excellent Year by Steve Kluger, and All Unquiet Things by Anna Jarzab. :)

    ReplyDelete
  6. Small Review5 June 2011 at 00:17

    You are a girl after my own heart! I just did a spotlight list post on alternating POV narration. I mentioned Thirteen Reasons Why, too. I love the way Jay Asher utilized the tapes and Clay to show both sides of the story. Another favorite of mine is Flipped by Wendelin Van Draanen.

    ReplyDelete
  7. Michelle Fluttering Butterflies6 June 2011 at 09:53

    Ooh, can you believe I just started writing notes on a post just like this, spotlighting some of my favourite books that have alternative narratives. It can be done well but sometimes not so much.

    ReplyDelete
  8. BookGeek6 June 2011 at 18:46

    Awesome discussion. I know very few novels that do it well. If it's badly done, then I get distracted trying to keep up and keeping narratives in line. If it's done right, the layers build and build and you are left with a better picture of the story. I am not sure this counts, but I've seen books where it's a dual narrative with the same character - once when she is older and one when she is younger. It was difficult to catch on at first, which threw me off for a bit. After I flipped back and forth a few times, it started to make more sense.

    ReplyDelete
  9. Anonymous11 October 2011 at 17:38

    Ohh Emmmmm Geeeeeeeeee!
    LOVE DUAL NARRATIVES!
    Oh Peoplezzz, I Need A LiL' Sisterly / Brotherly Help 'Ere!
    I'm Writing A Dual Narrative But I Don't Really Know How To Structure It. Is It Like This:

    CHARACTER 1: GETS UP
    CHARACTER 2: GETS UP
    CHARACTER 1: EATS BREAKFAST etc

    OR

    CHARACTER 1: GETS UP
    CHARACTER 2: EATS BREAKFAST

    So On And So Forth... Thanks In Advance
    :D

    ReplyDelete

Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)
Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...