I just found this article on CTV.ca about Consumption where Kevin Patterson describes the one job that novels are supposed to do:
“It’s a novel, and novels only have one job, and that’s to break your heart,” Patterson says. “Novels with agendas and messages are frequently bad novels, and certainly the more undisguised and obvious those agendas are, generally, the worse the novel is. So I want the reader to be moved and I want the reader’s heart to be broken.”
And he’s so right; his novel squished my heart into pieces. Now I regret being so flippant about how hot he is when I saw him read in November. He’s hot AND smart. Sheesh.