Understanding novels : a lively exploration of literary form and technique / Thomas C. Foster.

Preface: Novel possibilities, or all animals aren't pigs? -- Introduction: Once upon a time : a short, chaotic, and entirely idiosyncratic history of the novel -- Pickup lines and open(ing) seductions or, why novels have first pages -- You can't breathe where the air is clear -- Who's in charge here? -- Never trust a narrator with a speaking part -- A still, small voice (or a great, galumphing one) -- Men (and women) made out of words, or, My pip ain't like your pip -- When very bad people happen to good novels -- Wrinkles in time, or Chapters just might matter -- Everywhere is just one place -- Clarissa's flowers -- Met-him-pike-hoses -- Life sentences -- Drowning in the stream of consciousness -- The light on Daisy's dock -- Fiction about fiction -- Source codes and recycle bins -- Interlude: Read with your ears -- Improbabilities : foundlings and magi, colonels and boy wizards -- What's the big idea -- or even the small one? -- Who broke my novel? -- Untidy endings -- History in the novel/the novel in history -- Conspiracy theory -- Conclusion: The never-ending journey.

A lively and entertaining guide to understanding and dissecting novels to make everyday reading more enriching, satisfying and fun. Understanding Novels shows how a novel's structure - point of view, narrative voice, chapter construction, character emblems create meaning and form the special literary language of the novel.