By Vicki H. Moss, Contributing Editor
for Southern Writers Magazine
So many books—so many
hours in one lifetime to read them. There’s no way to plow through them all.
And that’s the reason book reviews are so important.
I recently bought a
couple of books recommended for a trip I was soon to take. Since I was going on
vacation, I assumed the books were nonfiction and I would learn about the
country I would soon be visiting. The book I chose to read first had the least
number of pages and I could finish it quicker to move onto the weightier tome.
Once into the book, I
thought, this is an interesting adventure this character is having. Three-fourths
of the way through the book, call it whatever you want—getting suspicious or
feeling something wasn’t ringing true—I searched Amazon for the book so I could
read the reviews, not caring if I spoiled the ending. In those reviews, I found
one where a reader had penned words describing the same feelings I had been
feeling. Something wasn’t quite right. The reason why? The book was a novel—not
nonfiction—and the writing was called wisdom literature. The author
had been trying to convince me of his beliefs—his own wisdom and beliefs I
didn’t share.
What exactly is wisdom
literature you might ask? Here’s Wikipedia’s definition: “Wisdom literature is
a genre of literature common in the ancient Near East. It consists of
statements by sages and wise men that offer teachings about divinity and
virtue. Although this genre uses techniques of traditional oral story-telling,
it was disseminated in written form.
“The literary genre of
mirrors for princes, which has a long history in Islamic and Western
Renaissance literature, is a secular cognate of wisdom literature. In Classical
Antiquity, the didactic poetry of Hesiod, particularly his Works and Days, was regarded as a source of knowledge similar to the wisdom
literature of Egypt, Babylonia, and Israel.
“In ancient Egyptian
literature, wisdom literature belonged to the sebayt (“teaching”) genre which
flourished during the Middle Kingdom of Egypt and became canonical during the
New Kingdom. Notable works of this genre include the The Instructions of Kagemni, The Maxims of Ptahhotep, The Instructions of Amenemhat, and the Loyalist Teaching. “The most famous
examples of wisdom literature are found in the
Bible.”
Nothing wrong
with wisdom literature, but why hadn’t the publisher and author
clued in readers from the beginning by stating on the book cover that the book
was wisdom literature or at least let readers know it was a
novel? Couldn’t this have also been stated in a prologue instead of at the end
of the book?
When I finished the
book, there was an explanation at the end explaining the book was indeed—wisdom
literature. But still, I felt as though I had been duped. All that time
wasted when I could have been reading nonfiction and learning about the place I
was to visit. Again, why hadn’t the author put that tidbit of information in
the beginning of the book rather than waiting until the end after I’d wasted
precious preparation time? Sigh. I should have read the book reviews
beforehand. Once “tricked” like this—I highly doubt I’ll ever read another book
this author has penned. The trust between author and reader was broken.
What about you? Do you
read reviews before buying a book and do you like knowing you’re reading
fiction or nonfiction from the beginning or do you like surprises?
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