Would Poisonwood Bible have sold if written by a debut novelist?

I recently finished Barbara Kingsolver's Poisonwood Bible, a beautiful, haunting story of a family of six who travel into the Congo for missionary work in the sixties. Kingsolver takes us into their lives showing us their world and how it unfolds through the eyes of the minister's four daughters, and his wife. This book is one of those books that is simply perfect in description, characters, and dialogue, plotting, suspense, and satisfying conclusion. Loved it.

Despite the fact that Poisonwood Bible is a veritable modern day classic and thanks to Oprah, quite the bestseller to boot, I wonder, had this been the debut of a new novelist, would it have sold?

Everyone from my agent, to editors, to writing-guides emphasize the importance of your opening pages. The first sentence must hook the reader! The first page, action paced! Go go go! This is not the Jane Austen, Dickens era of slow story telling. We are constantly reminded to make it fast-paced, to keep the action going lest the reader put it down and reach for another book.

To put it frankly, Poisonwood Bible starts off boring. The first chapter is told from an unknown perspective, likely a being spying down from a tree- the verbiage is muddled and I had to re-read the first page at least three times because while it was all very pretty, it was also very confusingly worded. My husband agreed, not moving past the first page for the one month the book has sat on his nightstand. It's too slow, he complained.

And yet- if you pull through beyond that first chapter, you are well rewarded with stunning prose and storytelling rivaling the greats. But if this book was queried by an unpublished writer seeking representation, I cannot imagine anyone giving this book a chance. What a shame that would have been.

Maybe a debut book should start of action packed go-go-go and then once you've created a fanbase and people are willing to take a chance on you, you can dive in and do a story like Poisonwood Bible- slow to start, but beautiful and well worth reading until the very last drop.

What's your take on the current pressure on action-paced narration? Do you feel very pressured to make the first few pages pop in your manuscript?

Fifty Books: Books #1-7

Reading is essential to the craft of writing but thankfully a component nearly every writer enjoys thoroughly, present party included. In 2008 I read 50 books. In 2009 I read one-hundred books. In 2010 I read. . . ten. As it turns out though you can read 100 books in one year, you probably shouldn't as it takes the joy out of the reading as you try to meet a random and arbitrary goal. This year I'm back on the fifty book horse [albeit a random but decidedly more doable goal] and excited for all the book reading fun to come. I just wish I could curb the time I spend clicking on links and getting my daily reading in this way as opposed to an actual book- six books at this point in the game is admittedly a little dismal but I am determined to reach my fifty book goal this year.  The books I read will be on the side-bar- and I look forward to reaching this goal!

Any good books you're reading lately?

[my rating explanation: * are out of five possible *****] 

Book #1 The Lonely Polygamist
This book is an example of why a good title can make all the difference since I  I would never have otherwise noticed this book. I'm a sucker for boy meets girl meets girl meets girl story so couldn't resist when I saw this title: a lonely polygamist? A man with multiple wives and exponential amounts of children feels alone. How can it be? Udall does a brilliant job showing us exactly how such a thing is possible with equal parts humor and stark sobering realism. At approximately 600 pages, I think it was needlessly long with parts that simply could have been chopped out as pretty and interesting as they were they did not need to be there to move the plot along. Still, its well-written and since I tend devour everything written by an author I like, I will be keeping my eye out for future books by Udall.***

   

Book #2: No god but God

I wanted to read this book ever since I saw Aslan on the Daily Show years ago and was pleasantly surprised at his well-written historic account of the origins of Islam and the current issues faced on issues like hadith and hijab. A controversial book, but an important book that should certainly be read. My main gripe is that the second half felt very rushed- the issues he raised should have been more closely examined, perhaps meriting a separate book alltogether, still it was a good easy read. ***




  

Book #3-5: Hunger Games
This three part series began with a bang. But you can judge how I liked the series with the time it took me to finish each book. Book 1: 24 hours. Book 2: 48 hours. Book 3: two weeks. I could tell you why this series started off beautifully but then began a steady descent to the sea but this reviewer touched upon every issue I had with the series. I must say I loved Peeta, he had the most well rounded character arc but unfortunately the heroine of the tale was not equally sympathetic nor fully developed. 1: **** 2: *** 3: *



    
 
Book #6: Outliers
A fascinating study on the people who are outliers in our society, succeeding by leaps and bounds above all others. How does it come to be? Is it really as simple as "pulling up from the bootstraps and making it?" According to Gladwell, no- there is more we must explore to understand success in our society. I love the points he brings up- and societal issues that may need to be addressed. The biggest take home point I got from this book is we need to not only look at those who succeed and why, but those who fail and why. It takes both perspectives to get a true idea of what's at stake. Great book. ***




Book #7: In Other Rooms Other Wonders

Beautiful. That is the one word to describe this series of short-stories all connected to a wealthy feudal lord in the lands of Pakistan. I've read a ton of books from India, most notably Jhumpa Lahiri, and this is the first book I've read where the stories are beautifully rendered and well told. I normally hate short-stories for the way they resolve so ambiguously, and while these are not stories that end with finality- they leave beautiful and haunting tastes upon ones tongue despite their unrelenting realist twist.