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In praise of 3-star storytelling
🕑 Added 2023-05-08 22:28:43 +0000 UTCAs I got deeper into literature, film, theater, etc. in high school and college, I began to catalogue the great works of art. Some of those were fed to me: Citizen Kane, 100 Years of Solitude, anything Shakespeare, Pride and Prejudice, Waiting for Godot, and so on.
And I learned to use specific criteria to define for myself what other works of art were also in the pantheon. There is a line between good and great. And you can tell the difference based on technique, themes, and general importance. Does the story tell a story that’s deeper than what the story is about? Is there something innovative in the structure or syntax? And probably the most often used criteria: is the artist already considered a genius or auteur?
When The English Patient came out in 1996, I saw it, and I thought it was incredibly shot, acted, and written. It’s a major accomplishment of cinema, this swelling epic. But also, there’s no way I’ll ever watch it again. It’s very long, and kind of dull. Lots of Great Art is this way. And I appreciate the importance of studying these books and films and so on. There’s plenty to learn from them. But mostly I just want something that turns the page or keeps me interested in what’s happening.
I’ve become a fan over the past few years of the 3-star story, something that can’t really be categorized as Great Art. Maybe it’s too on-the-nose, too genre-y, too sloppy or uneven. Maybe it’s trying to do too much and fails. Or perhaps it succeeds but at doing something it feels like we’ve seen a million times.
If you make a perfect cheese pizza, that’s great. No one will consider you a master chef, but they will happily eat your delicious comfort food. But what if you try mixing goat cheese and a little cottage cheese with Havarti in your topping? And then you did a graham flour crust? It’s probably a tart, pungent, liquid mess. Or maybe it’s great. I don’t know. But I would be it would be a touch polarizing. Kudos to you for trying to push the pizza envelope. Points for art! Though, points deducted for making what sounds like a mess of a slice.
But I’m down for people trying something different, either in the art form or in their own repertoire. Often the result is a 3-star product, some average of 1-star and 5 star. Example: I just saw Beau Is Afraid, a 3-hour movie about a character who exhibits little to no agency. It’s, at times, dull. Other times incomprehensible. Other times silly. But many times it’s enthralling and sick, in all the right ways. And I’d prefer watching this over any other polished epic.
Romcoms, cozy mysteries, and teen dramas all kind of fall into the 3-star field as well. They’re not doing anything fancy or artsy, but they get you through a few hours of an evening. And you feel better, at least while watching them.
Recently, Audible recommended a mystery novel to me by an author I’d never heard of (I’m going to leave the title/author out of this, bc while I really enjoyed the book, this person’s a relatively new writer, and I don’t want my first mention of them publicly to be “3 stars!” I wouldn’t have meant it as an insult, but it kind of is, semantically speaking). And I listened to it, and I really enjoyed it. I’ll not hold it up to the works of Agatha Christie or Tana French or Michael Connolly, but it was really well-done, with some big plot holes, and interesting characters. Well worth the 9 hours of listening I did. 3 stars! Thank you, unnamed author!
And all of this is not to take anything away from groundbreaking art. There’s nothing like the thrill of a witnessing a masterpiece, but also searching for perfection is exhausting, and I’ve found that it distracts me from what I really want, which is to just read or watch a story for a bit.
I’d be curious what you’re watching or reading that’s not in the current cultural conversation. Is there a romcom, horror, mystery, or even family drama sort of deal that’s not going to blow me away, but that I’ll feel great about reading or watching. Something to take me away for an hour or more.
-Jeffrey Cranor
Comments
Aviva
My mother in law gifts us a pile of bestsellers every year and I'm trying to get through them. So I just read Lessons In Chemistry by Bonnie Garmus and "Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow" by Gabrielle Zevin. Both of them unfortunately use sexual assault of a female STEM grad student as a plot device. But, I enjoyed them more than not, because Lessons In Chemistry included POV of a hyperintelligent dog, and Tomorrow ^3 was nostalgic in a near-past internet culture kind of way.
Mary Golosinski
I love Tana French. I actually read The Likeness (amazing!) first and then went back and read In The Woods. I’m so glad I read them in that order. I much preferred having Cassie (the protagonist of The Likeness) define herself and then go back to see what an unreliable narrator (cough *asshole* cough) the first book had in Rob from In the Woods.
Melissa Decost
Books by Simon R. Green fit this for me. Quick and fun, if a little formulaic. On a side note, Tana Frenchs' book In the Woods is the first book where a character (the male detective) frustrated me so much I didn't fully finish it. I scanned the rest (it was pretty obvious to me by that point who did the present murder). It was a good book, that dude just ticked me off too much.
Clara Stanford
I just read The Silent Patient by Alex Michaelides. It wasn't amazing by any means, but it was very engaging and I both felt compelled to keep picking it up and finished it a lot faster than I have other books lately. I'd been struggling to finish a different book that's considered a great work of art (and was mentioned in the original post, funnily enough), and I do still want to finish it, but it was nice to read something that was just a page turner and I could feel the satisfaction of finishing it quickly.
Ashley Cool
I love this concept. I fell in love with the outlander series and obsessive read all of it over the course of six months (iykyk). That was a work of art. I felt hollow when I finished it wanting for more. I read the Bridgerton series after, which is NOTHING like Outlander except they are both historic fiction. Bridgerton was a 3 star series that got me out of that reading slump. I'm on the hunt now for more 3 star content 😄
Marko Filipović
As a big Pratchett fan, I take exception and put Discworld squarely at four stars! But that's a fanboy speaking 😅
Elana Mitchell
I really enjoyed the TV adaption, which was how I discovered that it was based on books. They are now sitting in my to be read pile of shame (shame because I haven't got to them yet).
Tyler Johnson
Lately I've been getting back into the swing of reading comics and books and I can 100% say there's a lot of mediocre feats out there by well established writers. Proctor Valley Road is one I can confidently say was a great premise with Grant Morrison on the team. It's a really great story but it's nothing to write home about. I'm also rereading Sweet Tooth because season 2 of the show dropped. It's one of those series that you can tell it was being written like they thought it would be cancelled, then levels out halfway through with a decent pace. (And if you do like it definitely look into Jeff Lemire's work because he's just amazing). I'd say maybe that's more 3.5-4 star territory? Also a book series my brother is rereading right now is called Dorothy Must Die. It's one of those messed up YA reimaginings of classic story telling. When I was 14 I adored the series but now I kinda roll my eyes at it. A good read and kind of silly
Lindsay Willett
I recommend The Rook series by Daniel O’Malley, a friend of mine from college. I would rate them higher than 3 stars, but I’m definitely biased.
Ollie of the Beholder
The Mrs. Jeffries mysteries by Emily Brightwell. They're probably the top of my list of "books I love but am not going to necessarily rush to purchase new".
Welcome to Night Vale
hallmark channel meets shudder is an amazing log-line. thank you -jc
Welcome to Night Vale
it's so funny, bc i was having this 3-star discussion with a friend the other day, and they brought up this exact movie. on the list! thank you! - jc
Welcome to Night Vale
i love a stephen king novel for this very reason. - jc
Arline Babka
There is a series by Darcy Coates (the Black Winter novels) that are a cross between Hallmark and Shudder channels. Kind of sappy, not real surprising, a bit unbelievable, but such genuine horror tension. I can't say it's a perfect read, but I devoured them all.
ibuprofen
the John Dies at the End series is a perfect 3-star series in my opinion. Vulgar, funny, gut punching. Absolutely not a masterpiece, there's a lot of criticism you could level at it and it's absolutely not for everyone, but god is it fun.
Kellie Linda
I loved Marry Me with J Lo and Owen Wilson. It won’t change your life, but you get to watch two people realize they had more in common than they thought and fall in love about it.
Doni Payne
I like the discworld series by Terry prachet for this(ignoring the first two books). They aren't great but they are good. At the end of each I've had some laughs and maybe some thoughts and that's good enough.
Arwen
Stephen King is the king of 3 stars. I'll read a deep, dense novel about suburban ennui then just need a break. Off to my comfort 3-star King!
