Reading as a Writer: We Lived on the Horizon

Erica Swyler is one of my auto-read authors. I inhaled The Book of Speculation when that came out. When I spotted her new book, We Lived on the Horizon, on the library shelves I knew I had to read it.

It took me nearly a whole week to finish this book. I would read a bit, and then get stuck in my head, thinking about the fascinating ethical quandary the characters had stumbled into. Then I'd read a bit more, and in two hours would find I'd read only a chapter or two. And this book's chapters on the whole are pretty short!

I didn't dislike the book, but the pacing is slow. There's so much to think about, and so many messages to take away. I found at times I had a hard time focusing on the plot over the Ideas. I'm really curious if that's what the author intended. As I'm drafting my own book, I'm keeping in mind the need to take care with slow scenes, with poignant sentences. All of writing is intentional; and this book made me question what kind of reader experience I'm trying to create, too.

Even with the slow pace, it was a beautiful book, and I'm glad this was available at the library!

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