Did you have trouble following the timeline?

Use this forum to discuss the October Book of the Month "McDowell" by William H. Coles.
a9436
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Did you have trouble following the timeline?

Post by a9436 »

I think McDowell is the first book for which I have managed to completely lose track of its timeframe. Take Billy and Tasha - their pregnancy is discovered, and then we hear that the child is born and Billy has become estranged, yet from the other plot points I had no idea that so much time had passed between these two events. I also have no concept of how long Hiram spent with Maud and her family, although I admit I may have missed this.

Did you also lose track of the progression of time? If so, did it have have much influence of your opinion of the writing or plot? I felt surprised at times by how many months had passed, but I would not say that it spoiled my enjoyment of the book.
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Post by SienaStein »

Oh my gosh... Yes! Even on page 1 it says Hiram's 2nd wife died in summer of 1999 and he married Carole 2 years later. The next heading is 1999 but he is already married to Carole for some time. I had to read it a few times and came to the conclusion it's an error.
I also find throughout the book that gaps in time aren't indicated. For example, Carole is waiting for him to get off a plane so she can talk to him about Tasha and Billie. We're reading about that, then in the next line they're at dinner and eating. There wasn't even a line break to let us know time will be skipped. I think this is my least favourite thing about the book to be honest.
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Post by Samisah »

This was an issue. Although it really doesn't distort the the plot, it did make me lose a bit interest. One minute was lonely and was saved by a new best friend. The next minute we find she had a lover who seemed to have existed without our prior notice. It's just tiring
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Post by Bavithra M »

Yes, the author failed to mention the timeframe im the book. It was difficult to find out how much time has passed between the scenarios.
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Post by Moddesser Elahi »

I did not have any trouble following the timeline. The flow of the story was smooth enough to make it an interesting and easy-to-read novel.
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Sonya Nicolaidis
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Post by Sonya Nicolaidis »

While I agree completely with all these comments about the unclear timeline, I think the reason why the Author gets away with it, is that he drives the story forward at such a pace, the timings suddenly become secondary. Perhaps inserting dates or months at the start of each sub-heading could avoid much confusion. Certain obvious discrepancies like the 1999 date should be cleared up because that is an obvious error. I must say, none of this affected my enjoyment of this novel in any way.
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Post by Ctcntry4 »

I had an incredibly hard time following the time frame and that is one of the biggest negatives of this book in my opinion. I wish the author would have kept going with the year at the beginning of each chapter and maybe even just a month or season.
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Post by Amy+++ »

While the book sounds interesting and thrilling, the confusing time lines might make it hard to read. They might also slow the book down.
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Post by Ijeoma Kikelomo »

Very true. Although the inconsistency in the timeline doesn't detract from the flow of the book
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Post by Georgia Lyonhyde »

I would lose track of time but found the story would then mention a detail and bring it back. I think there were a few errors from time to time but they were quickly bulldozed over. The book does require close reading if one is to keep up.
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Post by Keevan »

SienaStein wrote: 21 Oct 2018, 14:31 Oh my gosh... Yes! Even on page 1 it says Hiram's 2nd wife died in summer of 1999 and he married Carole 2 years later. The next heading is 1999 but he is already married to Carole for some time. I had to read it a few times and came to the conclusion it's an error.
I also find throughout the book that gaps in time aren't indicated. For example, Carole is waiting for him to get off a plane so she can talk to him about Tasha and Billie. We're reading about that, then in the next line they're at dinner and eating. There wasn't even a line break to let us know time will be skipped. I think this is my least favourite thing about the book to be honest.
I thought I was the only one who started off confused, lol. Rereading things a couple of times helped me have a better understanding. :D
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Post by Italiansweety1982 »

Yes, it was difficult
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Post by gfowle »

This was one of the biggest problems that I had with this book, as the various plot lines were not linked together very well. For me, this was a huge distraction, because the various plots are somewhat crucial to being able to understand the progression of McDowell's change.
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Post by Samy Lax »

Very true. The timeline was all over the place. However, the tone and pace of the book kept my interest alive right till the end.
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Post by Kishor Rao »

Yes, catching up with the timeline was a bit difficult. But whenever I read the story from different perspectives of different characters, I understood whether it was linear or a considerable time had passed.
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