"But I suspect that the reason students are not reading novels is not only that they find novels difficult and boring. It is also that they don’t realize that n

"But I suspect that the reason students are not reading novels is not only that they find novels difficult and boring. It is also that they don’t realize that novels are supposed to feel this way, at least at first." Eh... some novels remain boring no matter how far I read on. The author is probably more sensitive to the Stockholm Syndrome and totally unaware of the Sunk Cost fallacy: for such readers, after investing their time, it's cognitive dissonance driving the interest factor. Of course, even an initially very boring novel might become less boring as one reads on, but this is no argument in favor of it, as it applies to all novels. However, there are novels that build up such a crescendo intentionally (like the novels by Anthony Trollope). Others maintain an evenness that holds stable throughout the novel (Daniel Defoe), whereas some others, fluctuate irrationally and wildly (Tolstoy). Classifying all novel 'types' as the same is an elementary mistake.