Ha, well, with Palace Walk I can see how plenty of people wouldn't like it. I'd read a lot of Mahfouz before that one though, so in large part I was just into his writing style. I can't really say that I cared that much about the characters in Palace Walk either, but I love the writing and I loved learning more about regular, daily life in a place and time that I was unfamiliar with (plus with that one it fed my constant WWI interest).
Honestly I think it takes a lot for me to really care about a fictional character. I care deeply about the real people I read about in non-fiction and can get quite fannish, but with fiction it's not really a strong point for me. Now, fiction with no even remotely likeable main characters (grumble grumble Blithedale Romance grumble grumble) is something I hate reading, but I really don't need to care about the characters to enjoy a book.
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Date: 2013-01-10 08:05 pm (UTC)Honestly I think it takes a lot for me to really care about a fictional character. I care deeply about the real people I read about in non-fiction and can get quite fannish, but with fiction it's not really a strong point for me. Now, fiction with no even remotely likeable main characters (grumble grumble Blithedale Romance grumble grumble) is something I hate reading, but I really don't need to care about the characters to enjoy a book.