The Darwin Affair

Just like most of what I read for pleasure, The Darwin Affair is not a scholarly text. It was a historical fiction novel that I read for pleasure. But, that does not mean that I don't grow my mind when reading it. I am of the opinion that a good thing novel from any genre can expand one's thinking.

History and Fiction

I do not totally know which pieces of history in this story were accurate and which were fictionalized but I definitely know that Charles Darwin shook things up during his time. This story incorporated the impact Charles Darwin's Origin of Species had on those with privilege. His writings required a change in thinking. If all humans evolved from similar origins than the concept of class being determined by birth was definitely a construct rather than a natural order. It was interesting to see how Mason incorporated this struggle into the thoughts and motivations of many characters of all levels of the class structure.

He also included descriptions and story related to the development of an evil mind; again, the concept that an evil nature may not be determined at birth but through development and experiences. This humanness was also quite evident in the inspector's actions and motivations. Good people do not always do good things. While this added more darkness than I sometimes prefer for my leisure reading, I appreciated that it was truly reflective of real life and totally fit the nature and structure of the novel.

Format & Reading Experience

With this novel, I did find that I struggled with reading it on an e-reader. Without the paper novel, I did not have any constant reference to how close I was to the end. Yes, there are ways I can check what my percentage of progress is in the book but when a book is hefty in content as well as pages, there is something more orienting and perhaps reassuring when I can literally feel my progress through the story.

I do not like sudden stops when I'm reading. It is difficult for me to put a story down when it is not a natural stopping point like the start of a new chapter or change in story arch. This novel was a longer one and not one I could read in one sitting and I found I was sometimes distracted by not knowing how much longer I could be reading. I would get tired and reading until the next natural break but didn't know when that would be; ordinarily, I flip through the pages and place my bookmark where the next chapter starts so I have some kind of guide.

None of these challenges were enough that I stopped reading the novel all together, but I am an adult. I find myself reflecting on that experience for it's relation to engaging reluctant readers - of any age. I believe we need to be cautious with requiring specific formats for reading materials depending on what our purpose is on having people read them. If I was not already a prolific reader, I might have really needed to have the paper copy of this book to get through it and remember any of what I had read. This story had enough content that I had questions about that, if I had to use it for some kind of study, I would have preferred a paper copy so I could insert notes on post-it notes to refer back to.

Expanded Thinking

This novel ended up in my reading journal because it did just that. My mind came up with many observations about how society changed because of the publication of one book by Darwin. It also expanded my thinking on using ebooks and paper books in my work with struggling readers.

Do you have thoughts about your experiences with reading different books in different formats? Do you prefer paper books or ebooks or audiobooks? I'd love to hear about it! Leave a comment below.