Thursday, May 22, 2014

On Game of Thrones, and Why I Made My Husband Spoil it For Me

I was never really able to get into Game of Thrones. My friend Jess told me about it years ago (long before the TV series was out; long enough ago that when I bought the first book, I bought it at Borders), and I tried to read it, but I just felt meh about it. I’m not a big fan of fantasy to begin with (except for Harry Potter, I guess), and part of the reason why is because I’m really not interested in the world-building that has to be done. I don’t have much interest in having to learn a whole new vocabulary just to understand the book I’m reading.

Over the past few years, though, I’ve been hearing more and more about it, especially with the TV series coming out. Everyone has been absolutely raving over it. Naturally, because I’m a bit of a hipster, I assumed that if it was appealing to the lowest common denominator, then it wasn’t much good. So I kept avoiding it.

Finally, though, on my honeymoon a few weeks ago, my husband decided to read the first book of the series. He finished it in about two days and was glued to it that entire time. The more into it he seemed, the more interested in it I got. Once he finished it and told me how good it was, I said I thought I might give it a try—on the condition that he tell me the plot, spoilers and all.

Initially, he was scandalized that I would ask for the plot of the entire book, spoilers included. However, I managed to convince him to tell me (by telling him I would just read Wikipedia if he didn’t), and since he likes to talk and has a great memory for things he reads, I think he actually enjoyed spoiling the whole book for me.

When I’ve told people this, I’ve gotten incredulous looks. Why would I want the whole plot to be spoiled? Don’t I want to find out what happens on my own? To the second question I give an emphatic NO. See, I already know what happens: EVERYBODY DIES. TRAGICALLY. My cousin once told me that 75% of the characters from the first book are dead by the fourth, and they’re all dead by the fifth. (I don’t know how true that is, this is just hearsay, so don’t yell at me about spoilers 0_0). I don’t like when characters I like die. And since I knew that basically everybody dies horrible deaths in this series, I decided I wanted to know beforehand who bites it and how.

So really, having my husband spoil the book for me has really made it a lot more enjoyable to read (I’m almost done with it). Not only has he totally explained the world they live in, but he has also prepared me for the brutal deaths that I just don’t think I could have handled had they been a surprise. This way, I’m able to participate in a huge cultural phenomenon that previously I had been missing out on, but as a detached observer. I already know what’s going to happen, but I can still enjoy the little humorous bits, the heated dialogue, and the characters’ personalities—and best of all, I know which characters I shouldn’t get attached to!

I really think that if I had tried to read it again without any pre-knowledge of the events that were to occur, I probably would have put it down by now. As it is, it’ll still take me about three weeks to finish it, but that’s partially because I know who’s about to die and I’ve been trying to keep him alive as long as possible…


Have there ever been any books that you wanted to spoil or have spoiled for yourself? Or do you think I’m insane? Have you ever had a book spoiled for you that you didn’t want spoiled? (I’ve already had probably at least the second and third GoT books spoiled for me…I know who dies in the Red Wedding…) Did you still read the book even though it was spoiled?

24 comments:

  1. Sometimes when Im watching a movie Ill imdb.com it and read the plot synopsis. I don't really know why, maybe I don't want to get attached to people in a story and then have them all get killed off after I get emotionally involved or something? I'm glad I'm not the only one!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Yup, I do that too! IMDB is great for that.

      Delete
  2. I was just rewatching season 1 of Game of Thrones and thinking about how pretty much everyone is dead now and it made me a little sad. But I also refuse to believe that some of the ones that ended on potentially dead cliffhangers in book 5 are dead! And a lot of favorites are still alive (so far). I think one thing we all learned from the A Song of Ice and Fire series is that no one is safe, which is probably where the "everyone is going to die" mentality comes from.

    More generally I actually like being spoiled on the endings of most books. I hate surprises and I enjoy the book a lot more when I'm looking for clues and foreshadowing rather than major plot details. The anticipation often makes me nervous and I'll read faster missing key details. I have to admit I'm the kind of person who will skip ahead to the end to find out what happens. I did that with Harry Potter and it made me enjoy The Deathly Hallows so much more!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I hate surprises too! And I've also been enjoying all the foreshadowing that I wouldn't have caught if I didn't already know what was going to happen.

      Delete
  3. I can actually understand that! I tried to read the first book ages ago (just before book four came out in fact) and just couldn't get into it. I thought it was not for me.

    We just happened to move right around Christmas - and had time off of work - so we binge watched season one of the show, which then prompted me to return to the book. I also read it on my honeymoon :) figuring that having already seen the first season would make it easier for me to get into the book this second go around. And it totally did! I'm a HUGE fan of the series now - books and show.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I don't have a ton of interest in the show, mostly because the book is so violent and bloody and I'm super squeamish about that stuff on the screen (don't care about it in books nearly as much). But even fistfights on screen sans blood make me close my eyes, ugh. Anyway, though, glad you were able to get into the series by basically spoiling it for yourself haha :)

      Delete
  4. I approve this strategy one hundred percent. I begged a friend on twitter to spoil TFiOS for me. I also have a friend with whom I exchange spoilers (and she does the same for me) if we know we need to prepare for something.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I'm pretty sure I went ahead and spoiled TFiOS for myself because I wanted to know what the big deal was about it but I had no real interest in actually reading it…I've done the same with a couple others for sure.

      Delete
  5. I also totally approve. The important part is that you are enjoying it *now*. Sometimes, if there's a lot of tension in a book and I'm starting to feel anxiety for the characters, I'll flip to the back and read a bit of the HEA or ending to ensure that the characters I'm worried about are fine in the end. And for shows, I'll look for spoilers online. I seem to enjoy things more when I'm not surprised :)

    ReplyDelete
  6. Even though I completely hate it when I find out exactly who dies and how/when, I do rather understand your reasoning. Part of the reason I never plan to read Game of Thrones is because I too have heard rumors that everyone dies. I want to be able to get attached to people without knowing that they die - besides, I usually have more emotion from their death when I don't know it's coming. Mostly though, it speaks to me as for what type of writer someone is that kills off such a huge number of characters in such a short amount of time. Honestly, it just sounds like the type of writing I wouldn't enjoy. That being said, I can understand why this method works for you. (If I didn't like being surprised so much, I might even give it a shot.)

    ReplyDelete
  7. I love the Game of Thrones books, though finishing one in two days is amazing. My fiancée doesn't like to read, so he's asked me to spoil him when it comes to Game of Thrones, though i forgot to mention a death that happened last Ep and i don't think he liked the surprise. Lol

    I don't like to be unintentionally spoiled. For example a radio station i like spoiled the end of Breaking Bad that day after it aired, which annoyed me because i was planning on binge watching all the seasons and now i don't want to. But sometimes i do look for spoilers if i have a theory about what's going to happen next.

    ReplyDelete
  8. I'm like this with movies. I want to know how it ends - if the person I like dies or not - before I watch it. It makes most people crazy, including my husband who is always saying, "just watch." I refused to watch "Argo" for a long time until I just decide to research the story and find out if they die - yes, I know it's a book but again, I needed to know the ending. I don't want to invest all this time and attention into something just to be heartbroken in the end.
    I don't have the same luxury with books, most of my friends and family aren't readers so I'm kind of on my own. Most people in the online community won't give away spoilers.
    I have no interest in "Game of Thrones," I don't read fantasy and I really don't like reading about everyone dying. But I do often feel left out because EVERYONE is talking about it. This is the reason I ended up reading "Hunger Games," I had no interest in it but wanted to know what all the hoopla was about. I begged a friend to tell me what happened in the rest of the series because there's too many other books I actually WANT to read to waste time just to keep up with what's popular.

    ReplyDelete
  9. That's so close to my story with Game of Thrones! I got the first four in a box set years ago, after seeing a commercial for the TV series, started the first one but couldn't get into it. My brothers took to it immediately, though, and have been following the franchise ever since. One of my brothers and I talk about the books we read quite a lot, and he tended to talk mostly about GoT, so I knew most of the general plot and that everyone dies tragically for several months. Last Month, we were talking about it and he came to a point where he mentioned the Red Wedding, and I put up a couple guesses about what it was, but he said I was wrong. I then I asked him to spoil it for me. Three times, he asked me, "Are you sure? Are you SURE you want me to spoil this for you?" I shrugged, all nonchalant, like "You've already spoiled so much of the series, what's this gonna do?" Long story short, he spoiled it and I was shocked. So shocked that I finally picked GoT up again and I am now 200 pages into it and slowly but surely soldiering on.

    ReplyDelete
  10. I can't relate to you at all. I never want to be spoiled. I have never sought out a spoiler in my life, and I don't think I ever will. I think my favourite part of reading is not the process, but the ending and how the book gets there. If I know what happened, then I'm not interested in dialogue, or pretty writing, or even cool characters. I need to experience everything firsthand, and when I am spoiled for books, I end up avoiding them because the story has been ruined already.

    In fact, the reason I'm not reading the books for Game of Thrones is because I don't want to spoil the TV show for myself. I know the show is close to the books with some differences, and even if they're small, I will do anything to avoid a spoiler.

    So, I guess we're polar opposites. :p

    -P.E. @ The Sirenic Codex

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hah see, I can't understand not reading the books because you don't want to spoil the TV show…that seems so backwards to me! But I almost always hate movie/TV adaptations of books I read (and will refuse to see a movie/watch a show based on a book until I've read the book) so there's that.

      I also hate surprises, so there's that too.

      Delete
  11. So I read book one after I had seen the TV show, therefore I read it spoiled because I wanted to see if I liked the books. I basically determined that there is a lot of fantasy that I enjoy reading more that those books, so I haven't continued reading them and just watch the show with the boyfriend because he is obsessed. I much prefer getting the highlights of the story through the show since it leaves me free to read more magic-based fantasies since I'm not a fan of intrigue-based fantasies ;-).

    ReplyDelete
  12. As much as I like (not love) GOT, I do not have the desire of reading it. I am barely a few episodes in on Season 1 and although it is interesting, the drive to see it is not there.

    That being said, I am fine with books (and movies) being spoiled for me IF and only IF I am not anticipating it. I have convinced (coerced) my husband to read YA books (LOL) that I have not even read or finished the series so I just ask him to spoil it for me. Not to the detail but at least answer the questions that I want to know the answers to, which is usually the main plot of the series. I have done this on 3 series that he read: The Hunger Games Series, The Mortal Instruments Series, and the Divergent Series. In this case, I am fine with it being spoiled.

    ReplyDelete
  13. I use to be REALLY bad and want to spoil everything for myself. I'd always read the end of the book so that I knew whether or not the book was worth my time. I mean nothing is worse than a terrible ending right?! I haven't been doing that lately :) I do my best to enjoy the thrill of encountering a plot twist!

    ReplyDelete
  14. I got the books when Borders closed and saved the first season of the show to watch with my husband because we both love fantasy...and it took me until Season 2 premiered to finally convince him to watch it! Once we did, it was all over. He has finished all 5 released books, I'm only midway through the 4th (that I started over a year ago). So we've talked spoilers...because he was done with the 5th when I was still reading the 2nd. I'm totally okay with spoilers in this case. Actually I'm okay with spoilers a lot of the time because the internet makes it REAL hard to not see spoilers ever.

    ReplyDelete
  15. I really want to get into the Game of Thrones series as I recently bought the whole lot for my sister, but at the same time I'm putting it off a bit because the books are so damned long and even if I don't like them then I'll feel obliged to read them because I hate not finishing things, haha!

    Beverley xx
    tutusandballetshoes.blogspot.co.uk

    ReplyDelete
  16. Yeah, this is pretty much how I feel about the whole series. I tried to get through the first one, and had to put it down for a while, even knowing some stuff before it actually happens.

    ReplyDelete
  17. Haha, I can't relate with you either. Truth to be told, there isn't really a big world building in it, the fantasy part of it are just the dragons. The rest is like reading a historical fiction, with lots of politics.

    There are differences between the show and the books though, so you might find the spoilers from your husband won't really make sense. Oh, the change lots of the storyline, so far and it annoys me.

    I'm reading book 5 now, by the way and I've never been so obsessed like this.

    ReplyDelete
  18. I don't like having books spoiled for me. I don't want to know what happens ahead of time. However, my grandmother loves to spoil books for herself. She often reads the last 50 pages of a book before she goes back to read the beginning. I don't think I could ever do that.

    ReplyDelete
  19. I think I might try this. Sometimes the spoiling actually just makes me more interested, and in a story as well known as GOT, I feel like it would just spur more interest, I think. If this were a person to person interaction, I definitely would not be giving you a funny look over it!

    ReplyDelete

Related Posts with Thumbnails