Question:
I'm currently reading Memoirs from an Antproof Case, a novel by Mark Helprin. It is pretty good reading, interesting to say the least. There isn't much plot development though... except for one point. The main character (who has more pseudonyms than Liz Taylor has husbands) doesn't like coffee.
This wouldn't seem compelling if he disliked coffee to the degree that say, my dad dislikes coffee. My dad says he'll drink it when it gets back under a dollar a pound. He drinks tea with two Sweet 'n' lows and extra lemon. The main character here abhors coffee. He has killed over it and lost two great loves to it. There is little character development outside of coming to understand that he really really really abhors coffee to a degree that no one can truly understand. There being no plot of character development, the driving question to discover is just why the character holds such distain for the beverage that brought about the Industrial Revolution.
So I must ask myself, if I finish this book am I too going to dislike coffee? Am I prepared to accept the ways that this book may or may not change my life? Is it going to be good enough for me to put off starting Harry Potter V again?
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I had no desire to drink coffee for about a month after I finished the book (which was about two months ago). Now, I drink it again, but I think more chastely.
I suppose you've already finished the book, and I wonder whether you've changed your mind about the plot development. Isn't there sort of a hidden plot from the very beginning, that doesn't make itself apparent until the last three chapters?
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