'Before the Coffee Gets Cold' and How important are Names?

Do character names play a role in whether you will continue reading a book or not?

I once had a middle-aged man in my college fiction writing class, probably my grumpiest student ever.  I try hard to reach all students, and always strive to be cheerful.  (As I've told students, there is a difference between happy and cheerful. You can be cheerful in the company of others, even when going through down times.  All profs know this.)

But this man – there seemed to be nothing I could do to change his opinion of me.  He simply didn't like me. Or so it seemed to me.  Even though I had treated him fairly and kindly.

And so it seemed, until I found out the reason why.  I resembled his ex-wife, and worse, my name was almost the same! (she was a Melanie.  Close enough.)  As you will imagine, it was an acrimonious separation, following her infidelity.  To him, I resembled a scarlet woman.

I can laugh about it now, but it led me to think about how we come to read a book, with our own baggage.  How we tend to tie emotions to names. 

So I asked myself: what if we didn't have preconceived notions about names.  What if - for instance - we had never come across those names before?

I had a chance to test that out this week, while reading Before the Coffee Gets Cold.  This is a charming little book, by a Japanese writer. It's not a crime book; in fact, it's what my colleagues sometimes call a 'woo woo' book - meaning, it involved magic.  The premise is intriguing: if you sit in a certain seat in a coffee house, you can go back in time for the minutes it takes for your coffee to get cold.  Usually about 10 minutes.  It will not change the present, but may help you make decisions about the future.

There was nothing wrong with the translation.  However, I started to read the book, and found myself so bogged down in Japanese names, that I put it down after two chapters. I simply couldn't tell characters apart. 

I read two mystery books in between.  Then, while waiting for my holds to come in at the library, I picked up this book again.  And encountered the same difficulty as before.

The problem?  It came down to, I couldn't recognize the male names from the female names!  I couldn't find a way to tell them apart.  Many names started with K, so that confused me further.    

I was more determined this time,  however.  So I wrote down a cheat sheet.  Wrote the name down and opposite it, and whether the character was male or female. Then I added old or young. I referred to the cheat sheet regularly, to get through the book.

Turns out, the book was charming, and did make me think about our pasts, and what gets left out. By that I mean, the things that never get said.  I'm glad I read it.

But it made me realize how much we depend on names to give us a hint as to whom the characters are.  Male vs female, even older vs young.  Susan and Kathy, I associate with boomer age women, for example.  Helen and Mildred, would be their parent's generation.  Ditto Bob and Ed vs Matt and… well you get the picture.

It also gave me sympathy for people reading foreign language translations of my own work!  Our names could be unfamiliar to them, along with what they suggest. 

Without those signposts, reading becomes much more of a challenge.  Turns out, there is a lot in a name.

Compared to Agatha Christie by The Toronto Star, Melodie Campbell writes capers and golden age mysteries.  The Silent Film Star Murders, book 19, is available at B&N, Chapters/Indigo, Amazon, and all the usual suspects.