Of the dozens of books Danielle Steel has published, I'd never read any of her books. I think there's something to be learned from every book we read and I was curious to learn the secret to her success. In a quest to read everything I can get my hands on, I decided next, I'd read Danielle Steel. I didn't realize what a challenge I was in for.
Going into it, I knew her books were characterized as formulaic with over-the-top characters. But I also knew Steel tackled tough topics and thought it'd be worth the read.
With an open mind, I began reading hoping for a quick, entertaining read. The first thing I notice is that all of Danielle Steel's characters are flawless: "All the women in the family were knockouts." Reading about the traits of these perfect characters got tiring quickly. But after the sisters and their drastically different lives were laboriously summarized and introduced, and once I was able to keep the sisters straight- the constantly changing perspective made this somewhat difficult - I was interested in the plot and seeing where it would go next. So I plodded through, overlooking flat characters and dialogue. I felt, beneath all that, there was a good story.
But the more I came across bland descriptions - "The relationship was going really well." - phrases that overstated the obvious - "The two sisters lived in totally different worlds." - and painful repetition: "But for the next year, they all had to be good sports and pitch in to help Annie make the transition to the enormous challenges facing her. Challenges that were huge." (Wow, you mean the challenges were both enormous and huge??) the harder it became to keep reading.
About halfway through the book, Steel's repetition became too much to bear. The final straw came when exact lines of dialogue were stated, then repeated only a few pages later. At first, I assumed it was a Kindle glitch. By the third and fourth time, I knew the mistake was not technological, but editorial. I was too frustrated to keep reading. That's when I put the book down and never picked it back up.
I was disappointed - I hate to not finish a book. But I couldn't get past Steel's blatant disregard of the old adage in writing, "Don't tell, but show" to stay interested in the story. So my attempt to read Danielle Steel was unsuccessful. Perhaps I picked a bad book for my first Danielle Steel read. I've heard her earlier works are better, though I don't think I will ever take the time to find out.
My next quest will be to read some other modern well known authors, Dean Koontz, John Grisham and James Patterson.
