What point of view do you like best, when reading a book?

Question

Say you're reading your favourite book. What point of view would you like it to be written in? The main character's, a little bit of all characters, just the main characters....or the general 'he-she' writer's point of view?

Answer 1

I think I prefer 1st person, because when the book is written from the main characters point of view, you really get a feel of what they're thinking. When it hops between the characters it can become confusing and then it ruins that feeling, and it's okay when written from the Authors point of view but it doesn't give you such an in depth knowledge of the characters.

So I say 1st person :) x

Answer 2

when theres murder

Answer 3

Just one persons.

I hate jumping from character to character.

I like to know about one character and only that character.

Answer 4

first person.

Answer 5

Third person.

Answer 6

If the romance is very romantic, I like to have a second person watching it, preferably one who is in love with one of the people. It makes us feel as if we are watching people fall in love and not being forced to partcipate in it.

The Great Gatsby is a good example of this, as is The Last Tycoon.

Fantasy generally works best with first person, I feel

First person is what most people do, but it's harder than you think. If your character is too strong they will monopolise the book and the events will be less important but if they are too weak no one will care what happens to them. You also don't have the advantage of knowing everything- you can only write what the narrator can see or is told, not conversations behind their back.

Answer 7

2nd person

Answer 8

In terms of a short story I really like second person.  It would be rather annoying for an entire novel but some of my favourite stories have "you" as the main character.  It's clever, but it can be a little distracting if as reader I try to identify with "you entered the room..." and I think "no way would *I* do that".

I'd rather have a first person story than third, but for me it is the story itself rather than the person of the text that makes the read worthwhile.

The novel I am reading now is first person.

Answer 9

Its how intensely it affects your mind, for example the words and sentences should be in a such a manner that literally makes you imagine everything in detail.

Answer 10

I like when the book is written in 3rd person. Then you get to know all the feelings, thoughts, etc. Where if it's 1st person you don't really get into the mind of the character. Know what I'm saying?

Answer 11

it's nice when there is a main character with whom the reader can associate, but also when the story manages to change points of view/ narrators, so that we can get a fuller sense of the characters, time period, culture, and environment, like in Go Tell it on the Mountain.

but most fantasy romances stay with only one narrator.

3 good choices:

1) all-knowing narrator (that tells the absolute unbiased truth- like in fairytales)

2) only the "hero" tells the story, so that the reader  "becomes"  the hero ( but you don't know how much you can trust the hero to tell the story, i man, we are all human, right?)

3) the story told from the point of view of each lover. ( some elements and events might seem different from each perspective, though they might both be slightly off from the truth)

good luck

Answer 12

3rd person. Idk why, it's just is more interesting.

Answer 13

It depends on the type of book, subject matter, and the author's intentions.  I have a lot of favorite books, but the story I think of at this point is the Great Gatsby.  The story is told from Nick Caraway'sviewpoint, yet it is biased although it could be true.  I know Fitzgerald was trying to inject elements of dislike into this book in a way that a reader understands there is more to the story.  I like stories written where the author injects his/her ideas and the point of view to me seems secondary.

Answer 14

The main characters and also he/her point of view cuz their feelings can be our feelings too.:)

Answer 15

3rd person or 1st person. Depends on the book. In Harry Potter by J.K Rowling, it wouldn't work well in 1st person, but in Twilight by Stephenie Meyer, 1st person works really well and 3rd person would suck!

If it's a love story, I like 1st person. If it's something like Harry Potter, 3rd person works really well.  

Answer 16

I think in all cases, it depends on the story. Some plots are better served by a narrator, while others do better with 3rd person POV. This being said, however...

I'm a HUGE fan of the unreliable narrator. I like reading first person narratives in which I'm not sure I can trust what the narrator is saying. This gives a whole new dimension to the story! Some great examples of this would be Poe's The Tell-Tale Heart (Is that guy's eye really evil? Or is the narrator just plain insane to begin with?) and The Turn of the s***w by Henry James (Does the governess really see ghosts at Bly? Or is she really the menace?). Those are my favorite examples.

To some degree, I would even argue that Hamlet is an unreliable narrator, even though the play is not told exclusively from his point of view. All the same, not everything he says is certain and to be trusted completely by his audience.

I think this point of view always lends a little extra kick to a story :)

Answer 17

3rd person.

Answer 18

Third-person for me definitely