Review: The Thousand Hour Club
Rating: 5 out of 5
Date: 02 14, 2012
Most definitions of literary fiction are nebulous. It's one of those "I know it when I see it" things. The two characteristics most often attributed to literary fiction are that it is more "literary" than other genres and tends to be more character driven than plot driven. "The Thousand Hour Club" seems to fit. (Plus, when submitting the book for review the author described it as literary fiction. Since he's an English professor, he'd know better than I.)More "literary" in this instance is one of those "I know it when .." things that is difficult to articulate. Some of this feeling  can be attributed to writing style and story, and part to  the qualities  of Tom, the protagonist. Tom is above average in intelligence (the reason he ends up in the Air Force) and an avid reader, literally introducing literature into the story. But I want to focus more on the second trait of literary fiction mentioned, being character rather than plot driven.This raises a question; what does that mean? There has to be a plot, right? A plot is the storyline - the events in the book strung together, one after another. Each event still has to follow the previous event in a way that is both logical and credible.In my opinion, the difference between plot driven and character driven is that, in a character driven novel, the story goal, what the protagonist hopes to accomplish, is fuzzy, if it exists at all. This doesn't mean the protagonist doesn't have goals. He may have many, but they are the kinds of goals we all have, possibly vaguely defined and fluid. The plot is the character living his life. If the character and his experiences are interesting, the book is, too. That Tom doesn't know what is coming next (a recurring theme is that the military doesn't let you know where you're headed next) keeps the story unpredictable and the reader interested.In the end, "The Thousand Hour Club" is also a coming of age story. However, unlike the typical coming of age story where the protagonist's goal is obvious, Tom's coming of age is precipitated by lots of accumulated experiences. Just like real life.**Originally written for "Books and Pals" book blog. May have received a free review copy. **