Warwick’s Reviews > Clarissa, or, the History of a Young Lady > Status Update
Warwick
is on page 1125 of 1534
“Oh that my words were now written! Oh that they were printed in a book! that they were graven with an iron pen and lead in the book forever!” And oh that this book went on for 1500 fucking pages!
— Jul 22, 2020 01:22PM
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Warwick’s Previous Updates
Warwick
is on page 1526 of 1534
Ahh…One of those books where you reach the finish, and turn straight back to the first page to begin again.
No, not really. One of those books where you reach the finish, and sob with relief that your long waking nightmare is finally at an end.
— Sep 05, 2020 04:41AM
No, not really. One of those books where you reach the finish, and sob with relief that your long waking nightmare is finally at an end.
Warwick
is on page 1221 of 1534
“My heart within me is desolate…For my days are consumed like smoke: and my bones are burnt as the hearth. My heart is smitten and withered like grass: so that I forget to eat my bread.” Yeah, same.
— Aug 13, 2020 02:20PM
Warwick
is on page 1017 of 1534
“If a single woman [in the Isle of Man] prosecutes a single man for a rape…if he be convicted, the deemster, or judge, delivers to the woman a rope, a sword, and a ring; and she has it in her choice to have him hanged, beheaded, or to marry him. One of the two former, I think, should always be her option.”
— Jul 01, 2020 01:30PM
Warwick
is on page 882 of 1534
“Thou’lt observe…that though this was written afterwards, yet I write it as it was spoken, and happened…I know thou likest this lively present-tense manner, as it is one of my peculiars.” No, Lovelace, everyone hates present tense narration.
— Jun 04, 2020 01:29PM
Warwick
is on page 572 of 1534
“I, loving narrative letter-writing above every other species of writing”
You don’t say.
— Mar 02, 2020 12:38PM
You don’t say.
Warwick
is 30% done
I feel like the amount of time required to write all these letters would not leave enough time in the day to actually do all the things they're writing about…
— Feb 19, 2020 06:25AM
Warwick
is 20% done
They've taken away Clarissa's pen and paper - bitch is still knocking off 10,000 words a day using an old pencil and backs of envelopes. OK, her family are awful, but to be fair someone does need to stop her. She's like those people on Twitter whose tweets start with (1/78)
— Nov 26, 2019 02:01AM
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1000NightsAKnight
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Jul 22, 2020 11:33PM
Admit it. Your 19 year old self could probably have breezed through 1500 pages, possibly never wanting it to end.
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Possible. But screw that guy!
1000Nights&AKnight: *looks at shelf with 7,360 pages of incomplete Wheel of Time*
Yup.
(The whole thing's over 11,000 pages (4 million words). I didn't give up due to length, but due to it being increasingly rubbish).
[Then again, while weight of tome has become a much bigger disincentive for me, I don't think it actually makes a difference once I've gotten into something: it all depends on the writing, and in particular the structure, whether it becomes leaden and repetitive, or something you can't put down. In concrete terms, last year I tried reading The Quiet Don - but although it has some wonderful moments, and some shocking ones, overall the bloody-minded refusal to allow any sort of structure or narrative, and the constant repetition of moods and themes, made it very hard to crawl through, and I gave up - sorry, paused! - halfway through.
On the other hand, the year before that I (re-)read Ash: A Secret History, and found it one of the most gripping, thrilling reads I've ever encountered, 1100 pages that just flew by - largely because its structure and density of action actually warrents its wordcount.]
@Wastrel Yeah, I'm not sure what happens with age. One hopes that we become more discriminating quality-wise, but I suspect it's also a lack of patience with anything too far outside a better defined and narrower personal taste. In youth, the ability to just go along with any conceit would usually see me through to the end quite quickly, even if I thought the book was lousy (The Old Curiosity Shop, anyone). In age, there's a reluctance to do that kind of shit-work, to meet the worst authors half-way, and if one is the type of person who feels obliged to finish a book no matter what, then one is disinclined to start what will likely be a huge chore.
