[mock-possum]

Annoying? Really? Man, I think this is some beautiful prose - have you tried reading it out loud to yourself?

> Certain it is, that, some fifteen or twenty years after the settlement of the town, the wooden jail was already marked with weather-stains and other indications of age, which gave a yet darker aspect to its beetle-browed and gloomy front. The rust on the ponderous iron-work of its oaken door looked more antique than anything else in the New World. Like all that pertains to crime, it seemed never to have known a youthful era.

Like tell me that doesn’t paint a picture - in a fine narrative voice!

[SamBam]

I loved it too.

Then again, I read a lot. I imagine this kind of thing is like exercise. This morning I followed along with a 20 minute "beginner yoga" video, and hated it because it felt painful and incomprehensible to my stiff, aging body.

[goalieca]

My brain also shuts off after a few commas. This style just does not speak to me.

[olddustytrail]

Well, sure, of course, if, you like, William, Shatner as, a, narrator,,,

[jwestbury]

It does, but periodic sentences can be hard to parse, because you've got to keep a lot of context in your head at once. I can't read French, but my English translations of Proust have single sentences which span a full page and more at times, and whilst I love Proust, I must certainly admit that those sentences require multiple readings to fully understand!

[codeulike]

Reading it out loud does improve it, you're right