It is rare for me to find myself so invested in the life of a character in a novel that I am truly upset when they make a wrong move. I'm usually standing back a ways if you know what I mean.
But I just found myself genuinely alarmed by the actions of a character in FATHER OF THE RAIN by Lily King. (It's not important what her actions are only that the stakes are high).
The skill of the writing made the trajectory of the character's actions seem inevitable and thus tragic. How invested are you in characters in books? Do you keep your distance? Of course it depends of the skill of the writer, but on the whole, do you remain aloof as a reader or wade in with them?
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With certain books, I wade in with them. I have occasionally stopped reading a series because a character is going in a direction whose conclusion I don't want to know.
I prefer to wade in their with them. Goodis was consistently able to do this with his protagonists (in my opinion). Right now I'm reading "Catching Fire" by Suzanne Collins and she's done a great job of taking the reader every step of the way with her main character.
For me, it depends on the character and what is at risk. Some books it is easy to remain emotionally distant, because of the type of story, while others almost challenge you to not care, and you are pulled in because of deft characterization and a compelling story line. Compare the emotional attachment to say a Richard Stark PARKER book with Graham Greene's THE HEART OF THE MATTER. They were written with different goals in mind.
I am presently reading an old Day Keene, SLEEP WITH THE DEVIL, and the protagonist is despicable, so if/when he gets his just deserts, i won't mind.
In contrast, a few days ago i read a short story by Holly Goddard Jones, whose main character was so real and sympathetic that i was distraught at the end.
So, it is a combination of who the character is, what the story is, and how well written.
I think the reader who wades in probably gets more from a book. And I think I may have read that way when I was younger or before I wrote. Now I am always thinking about craft. How did they do that?
Perhaps "wading in" isn't strong enough. Maybe "getting lost in a book" would better explain intense reader involvement.
I'm ready to be totally captivated every time I open the cover of a book, but whether that takes place depends on what i find on the pages.
I love that feeling.
I keep my distance, but a skilled writer can draw me in. Liz Williams has the knack. So does Ross Macdonald.
It doesn't seem unusual these days for me to stop reading in amazement / disgust when a character does something that is obviously stupid, silly, out of character. You know the type, the character who, when her cop boyfriend runs out of bullets, decides to fight the slavering monster with her nail file, or the one who decides to go into that dark, bad-smelling place when anyone with an ounce of sanity would run the other way. The character apparently thinks "Gee, I think I'll put myself in terrible jeopardy".
Bah. I much prefer smart, clever, logical to dumb and lucky, and much of that will cause me to stop reading, unless I'm hoping the character gets wiped out, in which case I read on with anticipation.
I tend to get pretty invested, though somewhat less so these days than when I was younger.
Generally I am aloof, but once in a while an author writes so brilliantly that I can hardly take it when they enganger one of those characters ... It doesn´t happen with men or with women my own age, but young women near my daughters´ ages ... so of course I realize that it is one of those soft spots I have developed after having children. I must have been really tough when I was twenty ;D
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