How Long is Too Long?
By Cheryl Beck

Has our nation’s dwindling attention span finally doomed any book longer than a TV Guide? I would like to hope not, especially with the reading resurgence caused by the Harry Potter books a few years back. Unfortunately however, I’m not so sure because I recently heard an interview by a local books columnist who tried to encourage reading a long, classic novel by, of all things, offering a “parts to omit” list.

This person writes for one of the big dailies in our city and normally does a great job highlighting categories for adults to children in every Sunday edition. She also appears regularly on a popular morning drive radio show the preceding Friday. On that particular show she previewed her column covering the novel Vanity Fair coinciding with the recent movie. And while she stated she wished everyone would read and love the book as she does, she then proceeded to offer a way to cut reading time almost in half by eliminating parts she felt were able to be skipped. Huh?

While it’s true that Cliff Notes and similar sources have been around for ages, this seemed to be an entirely different animal to me as I listened more and more intently to the discussion. When she mentioned the length of the novel is around 800 pages, there were audible “Oh, mys” from the three radio hosts. It was surprising that the host, who is an avid reader of longer, sometimes academic books even protested a little. The reviewer did continue to talk about the book as a great fan; obviously, she wouldn’t have chosen it as pick of the week if she wasn’t. But again, in order to make life easier for potential readers, she would e-mail a reading schedule to explain which parts to skip if they so desired. The sighs of relief were audible, too. That was the point that generated a flurry of thoughts and concerns for me.

For example, should a reviewer, or author for that matter, ever encourage a longer work to be read partially just to get someone to read it at all? Can this be a positive service to the writer or reader in any way? As writers, most of us produce things we hope will cause people to learn or to grow or to simply enjoy a few moments of their life. Can that happen if they only read sixty percent? Less than half? If they prefer the short attention span version, do we format the next project to be closer to that length even if it doesn’t work as well? Will we eventually only construct pieces no longer than what fits on one screen of a Palm Pilot? I truly hope not.

One other side of this issue is obviously the argument of time-- or the lack of it. Most people complain the minute hand doesn’t go around enough times to get the necessaries done, let alone things like kicking back to read a good book. So if they get to read part of something, does that fulfill them? Should we try to make ourselves satisfied with “at least I got to… ”  Is something better than nothing in this case?

What if this was routine in other parts of life? Would someone watch two-thirds of a DVD and then return it satisfied? Will they voluntarily fast forward through the middle to the last period of a sporting event and not wonder what happened for the remaining time? I highly doubt it. I think if one picks up a work, of any length, on purpose, with the intent to read it, at least an honest attempt should be made to read it completely. If the author has not done her job well enough and you lose interest that is another matter; at least you did not go in with the intent of cutting it short.

A second issue is one of opinions. Who gets to decide what is worth skipping, cutting, or glossing over for the sake of a faster read? How would the author feel to know that a reader, professional or not, feels only half the book is necessary? I’m sure it happens when tastes or expectations don’t match but I hope it will never be the expected norm. Besides, by the time a book gets to a reader, it has already gone through painstaking and often excruciating edits by the writer. Most of the first ones are self inflicted; the rest are likely required by an editor whose job it is to know what the reader wants to begin with. This system is not perfect but do we need yet another layer of cuts, again, just to get a book partially read instead of not at all?

Finally, how would such practices help younger readers? What does a view like this do for teachers trying to instill the value of reading to students who complain an assigned book is too hard? I can hear the whining chorus from high school English class, “but so-and-so said we could skip that part. Can’t we just this once? Pleeeeease?”  Teachers have a hard enough time as it is and, while I’m sure no disrespect was intended, I wonder if the reviewer ever considered her potential impact on young readers and their teachers. I wonder if she’d make the same recommendations again.

Now for my thoughts on a solution. What if this same reviewer had simply proposed a schedule to aid readers in breaking the book into short reading sessions? No skipping, just time management. Would that have been so hard? It obviously would take longer to complete than the “omit here” version, but the supposed goal of making it user-friendly would still be accomplished. Such a schedule would show users how to break down any big goal into manageable steps. It would encourage thinking outside the box and scores of other problem-solving techniques. I think just about everyone would benefit from a plan like that; well, at least those of you who are still reading.

Cheryl Beck has been writing for small Michigan newspapers part-time as a freelancer for almost five years and is working to expand her writing career. She has also had two scripts accepted and produced recently for a new kids show on PBS. She can be reached at Tuppercreek@massnet1.net.

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