Week 5: Assignment 3 Pick a title from the highly anticipated titles of 2013, found under the righthand “Coming Soon- Season Previews” sidebar on Early Word. Write a blog post using appeal factors or read alikes to describe the title. Why is this title expected to be popular and to whom would it appeal?
For this assignment I looked to The Huffington Post for inspiration and meandered through their Best Books Of 2013?: Our Picks For The Year's Biggest Reads. I selected Neil Gaiman's The Ocean at the End of the Lane to describe using appeal factors and readalikes. This title had already been on my radar, long before its June 18th publication, and so I was able to pull together some of the appeal factors and reasons that led to my own excitement about this title as a reader. Another reason I chose this title was that I have now read the work and find the Huffington Post's summary to be a little lacking in punch. I hope to replicate Huffington's succinct style while providing a more inviting description.
The Ocean at the End of the Lane
From master wordsmith, Neil Gaiman comes a modern tale of timeless fantasy that treads the line between memoir and magical realism. In its first layer, it is an atmospheric story about otherworldly happenings in commonplace settings. Beneath that, it is a story about sacrifice and the nature of true self. Finally, at its heart it is a tribute to memories; those which haunt us and those which have the power to bring us home again, if only for a little while. Those who have enjoyed The Golem and the Jinni by Helene Wecker may find The Ocean at the End of the Lane particularly appealing - both atmospherically-charged titles take place in realistic settings and revolve in part around identity and the meaning of self and/or free will.
For this assignment I looked to The Huffington Post for inspiration and meandered through their Best Books Of 2013?: Our Picks For The Year's Biggest Reads. I selected Neil Gaiman's The Ocean at the End of the Lane to describe using appeal factors and readalikes. This title had already been on my radar, long before its June 18th publication, and so I was able to pull together some of the appeal factors and reasons that led to my own excitement about this title as a reader. Another reason I chose this title was that I have now read the work and find the Huffington Post's summary to be a little lacking in punch. I hope to replicate Huffington's succinct style while providing a more inviting description.
The Ocean at the End of the Lane
From master wordsmith, Neil Gaiman comes a modern tale of timeless fantasy that treads the line between memoir and magical realism. In its first layer, it is an atmospheric story about otherworldly happenings in commonplace settings. Beneath that, it is a story about sacrifice and the nature of true self. Finally, at its heart it is a tribute to memories; those which haunt us and those which have the power to bring us home again, if only for a little while. Those who have enjoyed The Golem and the Jinni by Helene Wecker may find The Ocean at the End of the Lane particularly appealing - both atmospherically-charged titles take place in realistic settings and revolve in part around identity and the meaning of self and/or free will.
No comments:
Post a Comment