Multiple POVs, good bad or indifferent?

[Kahuna Burger]

The hubby and I were talking about books that use a large number of points of view (esp accompanied by several geographically or socially separated plotlines) and our general annoyance with them. I don't mind occasional scenes which cut to the antagonist, or a semi-omniscient POV which focuses in on different protagonists in the same plotline at different times, but books with 3 or more separate plots, each with one or more POV character who may or may not interact for most of the book make me crazy... It just gets too busy, and some authors overuse the technique badly, imo (GRRM, I'm looking at you).

How do you feel about the MPOV syndrome? Examples of authors who you feel do it particularly badly or pull it off well are always good...

 

[Klaus]

First time I read it was SoI&F, and I liked it.

Don't know if I'd want every book to be written that way, tho.

 

[Mallus]

I have nothing against that particular technique. It suits a certain kind of novel where the milieu is actually a main character. Like anything else, it can be done well or badly.

 

[horacethegrey]

The Lord of the Rings did it as well. Albeit most effectively.

And I really liked how George RR Martin handled the multiple POV's in A Song of Ice and Fire. I think it served in making the characters fully realized flesh and blood people, rather than the stereotypes they could have been.

 

[Plane Sailing]

If I understand you correctly, this kind of thing was done in the Many Coloured Land Trilogy(?) by Julian May, and I found that it helped turn the book into a page-turner for me.

 

[Nifft]

When it's done well, with unreliable narrators, it's excellent. LotR is a great example.

But it's just a technique. It's not going to make bad writing good, or good writing bad. SoIaF would have its virtues and its problems even without narrative perspective changes.

Cheers, -- N

 

[Kahuna Burger]

When it's done well, with unreliable narrators, it's excellent. LotR is a great example.

From my understanding of the LotR example (and I may be misremembering/misinformed) the split in POVs came when a group which were associated together were split apart. Imo, this sort of temporary MPOV works better than if, for example, the first chapters of Fellowship had been 1) hobbits, 2) Aragorn before he meets up with the hobbits, 3) Gimli in the Dwarven lands, 4) Legolas getting laid, 5) Whatisface being bitter about just being a steward's son instead of a prince, 6) Aragorn meets the hobbits, 7) Elf king calls the council 8) Gimli travels, has wacky dwarf adventures 9) Wood elf babe takes a bath 10) more hobbits and ranger.....

But it's just a technique. It's not going to make bad writing good, or good writing bad.

For myself, I disagree... Mostly because I have twice read books by the same authors with and without MPOV and had completely different reactions to the books. (Snow Crash vs Diamond Age and Ruled Brittania vs American Empire)

 

[Scribe Ineti]

I'm cool with multiple characters, multiple POVs, and multiple storylines.

What bugs me is when the author 'head-hops' from one character to another within the same scene. I prefer scenes to have one viewpoint character, switching characters only at particular breaking points as opposed to switching from sentence to sentence or paragraph to paragraph.

 

[Rl'Halsinor]

It is fine until it gets out of hand. And not to disrespect the dead but Robert Jordon's Wheel of Time went from using this technique in page turning read(s) but around book 6 became a leviathan of mass confusion. Multiple POVs can certainly get out of hand if the author is not on the top of their game.

 

[Nifft]

For myself, I disagree... Mostly because I have twice read books by the same authors with and without MPOV and had completely different reactions to the books. (Snow Crash vs Diamond Age and Ruled Brittania vs American Empire)

In the case of Snow Crash vs. Diamond Age, I'd suggest it's a spotty author's best work vs. one of his inferior works. IMHO Cryptonomicon is on the better side, and it has multiple PoVs. (But even in Snow Crash, there are multiple PoVs, they're just far less prevalent.)

IMHO Terry Pratchett does a good job with multiple PoVs, and does so on a regular basis.

Cheers, -- N