A Terrace On The Tower Of Babel
by Nelson Caldwell
Self Published, 2009
ISBN: 978-1450556569
Trade Paperback
777 pages
Fiction
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Let me begin this review by saying Nelson Caldwell has the technical skills to write a book of this magnitude. However, it is my opinion that he doesn’t understand the concept of story. Allow me to elaborate…
I picked up the giant volume that is A Terrace On The Tower of Babel eager to learn the inner secrets behind the collapse of the dot.coms and the ensuing real estate boom (which we’re painfully aware also collapsed). After all, this is what had been promised me. By page 172, I was able to extrapolate to the point that I could see what was coming. I was also bored to tears.
Nelson Caldwell has written a book that takes you into the boardrooms and offices of the men who are purposefully shaping the landscape of modern business. These are the men with billions of dollars and massive global networks who take part in or influence or finance the creation of silicon valley superstars, the fulfillment of the technological dreams of Arab visionaries and the future of many other organizations. This should be heady stuff, right? It’s not. When the description over several paragraphs of a character emptying a bottle of water, sip by sip, is the extent of physical action a scene, and the characters in the room talk in jargon and in terms of manipulating companies and people like they are pieces on a chess board, my eyes kept glazing over, and I would constantly lose my place. It was like Caldwell was driven to micro-manage his book, to offer up everything in great detail (whether interesting or not), when as most writers know that even in lengthy stories, where you might expect the occasional use of a fine stroke, a single action or word will often speaking volumes.
Story: main characters must be in peril (real or imagined), right from the beginning of the story. Caldwell’s characters show only a hint of what this peril is to be by the time I got to page 172. In other words, those 172 pages are unnecessary to the story. The middle of a book shows how the problem(s) develop and it also shows the hero(s) struggling valiantly against overwhelming odds. The end of the story or dénouement reveals or explains matters, usually during the hero’s victory over the forces which have stood in his or her way.
What I’ve been talking about is conflict. It doesn’t have to be as blatant as I described it, but if there’s no conflict in a story, what is there for the reader to invest in? Again, by page 172 in A Terrace On The Tower Of Babel, I can see some of the business and personal conflicts beginning to arise, but it is far too late. Caldwell has irrevocably lost me. I can’t force myself to read another word. And this is tragic, because I believe Caldwell has written something original and informative, something with real value. He just forgot to entertain me while he was doing so.
Perhaps you, the reader, will have more stamina than I.
Copyright © Clayton Clifford Bye
This is some text prior to the author information. You can change this text from the admin section of WP-Gravatar Clayton Bye is a long-time writer, editor and publisher. He has authored 8 books, published an anthology called Writers on the Wrong Side of the Road and reviewed many hundreds of other books. He offers a wide range of writing & editing services. Visit www.claytonbye.com. Read more from this author