My book club debate about narrative tense got weirdly personal last night

We were discussing a novel written in present tense, and I mentioned it felt more immediate to me. A woman named Carol said it made her feel like she was trapped in a surveillance camera. She's a retired security guard. The whole table went quiet. It hit me that how we read is shaped by our jobs and past lives way more than I ever thought about. Has anyone else had a book club debate where someone's background totally reframed how you saw a story?

2 comments

2 Comments

wren30118h ago

Wait, so Carol out here living in a real-life thriller plot while the rest of us just see a book?

janahenderson16h ago

Hold up @wren301, I think you're mixing up two different Carols. The one in the thriller book is a detective from Atlanta, but the Carol we were just talking about lives in a small town and runs a bakery. They don't even have the same last name in the story.