Did you think there were too many characters?

Use this forum to discuss the December 2019 Book of the month, "E-M-P Honeymoon", by Dorothy May Mercer
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AntonelaMaria
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Re: Did you think there were too many characters?

Post by AntonelaMaria »

Letora wrote: 27 Dec 2019, 10:20 It seemed like the further along I read into E-M-P Honeymoon, the more characters were introduced. I thought the main characters would be Tom and Kelly, but they seemed to fade into being secondary characters as the story progressed. In fact, I'm not really sure who the main character was because there were too many. I couldn't really attach myself to any one person because there wasn't enough information on any of them. Did you think there were too many characters?
Do you think there were too many characters in the team USA? I couldn't find a distinction between Agatha and Sharon, other than Sharon's romantic interest with Steve.
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Post by Brenda Creech »

jeminah28 wrote: 31 Dec 2019, 02:50 :idea2:
B Creech wrote: 29 Dec 2019, 18:20
jeminah28 wrote: 29 Dec 2019, 03:43

When Steve's character was introduced, I enjoyed his humor and my attention draw to him than in the couple. I notice that Steve's character is quite likable.
I liked Steve too. After he was introduced the focus was more on him than the rest of the American team.
Steve's character becomes more likable because of his spying-moves to Ms. Soujin, like flirting a little bit. When he also takes a secret photo of Kelly, it makes me tense a bit and say, "Oh, this guy is another threat to the couple, too." I guess, his swift-actions overrun the main characters.
Yeah, when he took Kelly's picture I was kind of wondering what he was up to! He was the one sent to find and stop the terrorists anyway. The others just got caught up in it when Kelly nosed around the gift shop. Did you notice Steve was all about following and flirting with Soujin trying to get close until he met the others, and suddenly he didn't even go back to the beach looking for her there again!
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Post by nicole-adrianne »

I don't think the number of characters was an issue, but the lack of clear focus and development was.
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Post by J_odoyo »

AntonelaMaria wrote: 29 Dec 2019, 03:48 I don't think there were too many characters in the story. They all seem very underdeveloped or maybe that was the intention of the author to stay surface level with them all.
I think I agree with you. The characters, to me, were not too many. The problem here is that they were underdeveloped. At times I could ask myself whether the author was focusing on the title of the book or not. Well, the author might have done this intentionally, but I think, to me, it brought some confusion.
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Post by AntonelaMaria »

J_odoyo wrote: 01 Jan 2020, 07:10
AntonelaMaria wrote: 29 Dec 2019, 03:48 I don't think there were too many characters in the story. They all seem very underdeveloped or maybe that was the intention of the author to stay surface level with them all.
I think I agree with you. The characters, to me, were not too many. The problem here is that they were underdeveloped. At times I could ask myself whether the author was focusing on the title of the book or not. Well, the author might have done this intentionally, but I think, to me, it brought some confusion.
Yeah, which is too bad. I mean to confuse the reader with such a simple plotline and very much so black & white characters. My confusion came from not being able to tell all the characters apart, other than the side they "fight" for.
The title says Kelly and Tom but they lost the leading role in this one, for me.
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Post by nfdoughe »

I think that especially toward the end there were a lot of characters involved. I understand that the author wanted to keep us involved first-hand, but there was also something lost a little bit by throwing in all those perspectives.
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Post by Letora »

AntonelaMaria wrote: 31 Dec 2019, 08:22
Letora wrote: 27 Dec 2019, 10:20 It seemed like the further along I read into E-M-P Honeymoon, the more characters were introduced. I thought the main characters would be Tom and Kelly, but they seemed to fade into being secondary characters as the story progressed. In fact, I'm not really sure who the main character was because there were too many. I couldn't really attach myself to any one person because there wasn't enough information on any of them. Did you think there were too many characters?
Do you think there were too many characters in the team USA? I couldn't find a distinction between Agatha and Sharon, other than Sharon's romantic interest with Steve.
That's a good question. Now that I think of it, I do think there were too many characters on Team USA. We didn't get a chance to really have one character stand out from the others.
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Post by Letora »

nfdoughe wrote: 02 Jan 2020, 16:18 I think that especially toward the end there were a lot of characters involved. I understand that the author wanted to keep us involved first-hand, but there was also something lost a little bit by throwing in all those perspectives.
Yes, exactly! The focus should have been narrowed down to one team against the other, and perhaps a few less characters on each team.
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Post by Kaylee Elmer »

Though there were a lot, I didn't think there were too many characters. I thought having so many characters helped move the story along. Reading so many perspectives kept me engaged as a reader. I liked that we got points of view from the characters in Honduras, where all the action was, as well as more of the behind the scenes perspectives back in Korea and the United States.

I'd agree with others that it was hard to tell who the main character(s) actually is, but does that really matter in the long run?
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Post by roymutuma »

My two cents.
There is no such thing as too many characters. However, in this regard, the title of the book is a bit misleading. I expected Tom and Kelly to be the main pillars of the story. They were. However, the introduction of numerous characters in the book made naming the book after the two characters rather uncalled for. After all, the characters were numerous!
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Post by Hester3 »

It is confusing when the title does not reflect the main characters or storyline, it is almost as if each segment of the book had its own main characters.
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Post by Letora »

1deannajv wrote: 29 Dec 2019, 14:10
Letora wrote: 27 Dec 2019, 10:20 It seemed like the further along I read into E-M-P Honeymoon, the more characters were introduced. I thought the main characters would be Tom and Kelly, but they seemed to fade into being secondary characters as the story progressed. In fact, I'm not really sure who the main character was because there were too many. I couldn't really attach myself to any one person because there wasn't enough information on any of them. Did you think there were too many characters?

Yes there were too many characters. I also thought Tom and Kelly would be main characters. I feel like the title is misleading because it's easy to infer that the honeymooners will be the main characters. They did start the events leading to the terrorists plan foiled. So maybe that's why it's titled EMP honeymoon? But I'm unsure who the main characters are. Maybe we're supposed to look at the larger picture and the U.S is the protagonist while North Korea is the antagonist.
Being that Tom and Kelly are in the title, I definitely expected to see more of them. I suppose we could look at the larger pictures, but character really bring a book to life for me.
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Post by sarahmarlowe »

1deannajv wrote: 29 Dec 2019, 14:10
Letora wrote: 27 Dec 2019, 10:20 It seemed like the further along I read into E-M-P Honeymoon, the more characters were introduced. I thought the main characters would be Tom and Kelly, but they seemed to fade into being secondary characters as the story progressed. In fact, I'm not really sure who the main character was because there were too many. I couldn't really attach myself to any one person because there wasn't enough information on any of them. Did you think there were too many characters?

Yes there were too many characters. I also thought Tom and Kelly would be main characters. I feel like the title is misleading because it's easy to infer that the honeymooners will be the main characters. They did start the events leading to the terrorists plan foiled. So maybe that's why it's titled EMP honeymoon? But I'm unsure who the main characters are. Maybe we're supposed to look at the larger picture and the U.S is the protagonist while North Korea is the antagonist.
Wow! You make a very good point. It is difficult to determine who the main characters should be. I think that perhaps if the author had cut down on the introduction of some characters, main characters would have been able to stand out.
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Post by amandathebibliophile »

I haven’t read this book, but in my experience, there is such a thing as too many characters for sure! From the reviews, it sounds like a lot of these were also underdeveloped? This being the case, I know I wouldn’t personally be a fan. Even when authors do something like that intentionally, I generally prefer to really get to know characters!
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Post by Michelle_Cerone »

I felt that Kelly and Tom faded into the background a little too much. Steve and Sharon's flirtation was more engaging because they didn't get their happily ever after yet. Kim Jung Lo was such a great surprise though. I didn't see his character coming.
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