You knew it was a pretty good blog post because it told you so in the title. It was right there at the top. Still, the title of a blog post would usually be something more along the lines of Top Fifteen Dog Breed and Drink Pairings! (number 1 is, of course, Keeshond and Masala Chai) Or is it More Environmentally Friendly to Zorb to Work? (important scientists are still searching for the answer to this one). How then could a blog post be so self-assured that it was “pretty good” if it didn’t even follow commonly accepted practices of blog posting? For that matter how could a blog post be self-assured? It doesn’t even have a self, it’s just ones and zeroes on a server somewhere.
Well, blog posts are like any form of writing, they have a narrative and therefore a narrator and sometimes a Narrator! A Narrator here means an active and eccentric or otherwise unusual voice that is often humorous in its absurdity. Most books and writing tell you what happens with possibly some nice simile or metaphor thrown in here and there. But more unusual forms of narration will happily insert their own voice, use mixed media, or might even outright lie to you. xopoɥʇɹoun ʎllɐǝɹ ʇǝƃ uɐɔ ʎǝɥʇ sǝɯᴉʇǝɯoS. By now it should be apparent that I love finding stories told in unique ways but here’s the thing, it’s hard to categorize them because they can be any genre. So, outside of lists people make, it can be hard to find them. You’ve peaked ahead, haven’t you? You can see there’s going to be a list of books with unusual narration. Well, let’s get to it then shall we?
This one is pretty obvious, but still more than worth bringing up. First, because while Lemony Snicket is not the original case of an eccentric narrator he is one of the most famous examples and is responsible for codifying the trope of a “Lemony Narrator”. Second, because I want to inform you that Mr. Snicket has written works outside of his most famous “A Series of Unfortunate Events” books. “Poison for Breakfast” is perhaps the most Lemony of all his books as it concerns the author himself having poison for breakfast and it is about that, but it is also not at all about that. When I read this book I was bewildered, here meaning that I had no ability to anticipate what would happen next in this book because of the way it was narrated and I cannot tell you much further.
“The Assassination of Brangwain Spurge” pretty much lets you know right from the title that it is going to be a ridiculous book and it is. Where it ventures into the realm of the unusual is the effective use of multiple perspectives. While there are parts written by him, the titular Brangwain also has a lot of his experience conveyed to you via outlandish and wordless images. The book is about many things, but for our purposes, one of the most important things it is about is perspective and how its two chief narrators can have very different views of the same event, motivated by their own biases and cultural perspectives.
It’s Not Me, It’s You starts off letting you know from page 1 not to trust its narrator. Avery Dennis introduces the concept of creating an oral history about all of her (many) relationships for her final English project. This is followed by an immediate note of correction from that English teacher stating that this is NOT what she asked for. We know from the start that Avery Dennis is self-absorbed and over the top and that we can’t really trust her, but not in a malicious way, just that we know Avery Dennis has set out to be self-serving. The novel jumps back and forth between statements from people she is interviewing and extensive editorializing by Avery Dennis with a lot of footnotes*.
“The Amazing Maurice and His Educated Rodents” is the first representative of the YA end of the 40-some-odd Discworld series. While all Discworld books feature wry and witty narration with lots of observation about the character’s shortcomings, Maurice is a particularly special example as he is an intelligent talking cat and has very cat-oriented views on human behaviors. Though, he also has very cash-oriented views of the world as well. With Pratchett you are always promised humorous divergences and philosophical observations, making him an author for whom the unusual narration is the usual.
*Like this one and if there is an even further deviation** you can find footnotes within footnotes.
** Like this one where, as I see you are still reading, I’m going to implore you to comment below with any unusual narrative works you know about. You see, when I mentioned before about them being hard to find I wasn’t joking, I tried to talk to ChatGPT about this and it was lousy. AI isn’t very good about being subversive since it’s all about following rules and all… wait don’t leave without commenting! 👇👇👇
