Dulu kalo baca a review of a book I used to not understand what the reviewer meant when he said plot and storytelling. I thought to myself, “aren’t they the same?” and thought that the reviewer was just being snobbish and that he deliberately used literature jargons just to show off (and to confuse the reader. 
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I started to realize the differences between those two things when I read a book of the “A Song of Ice and Fire” series. I found the plot fascinating. I was very curious as to what would happen to the characters. Unfortunately I couldn’t stand the storytelling. The storytelling, I must say, simply sucked. It was very soapy. Numerous characters (new characters keep appearing even near the end of the book) with story twists which were not unlike those of soapy tv series. In fact, it was one of those rare books which I could not stand to read that i skipped through parts of minor characters. In fact, I skipped through the part of the battle between Stark and Lannister!! Can you believe that?? I mean, how could a battle be boring?? That shows just how soapy the book was.
At that time, I could not comprehend what the boring part was. When asked about the book, I would always say, “The big story is interesting but the story unfolds in a very boring way”. I still did not realize that it was the storytelling.
And then i read Phillip Pullman’s “His Dark Materials” series. and what do you know, it was the exact opposite of “A Song of Ice and Fire”!! I found ‘The Golden Compass” as an exciting, fast-paced and, at times, thrilling. But nearing the end of book 1, I thought to myself, “what a lousy story..”. Nevertheless, I bought the second book, “The Subtle Knife”, because I wanted the excitement I had when I was reading the first book. And I was not disappointed. The second book lived up to my expectation both in storytelling but unfortunately, also of another lousy plot.
The storytelling of “The Subtle Knife” was brilliant. I held my breath, cried, and basically felt involved with the story. But time and again I couldn’t help thinking to myself “the story was getting even worse..!!”.
Jadii mo ngomong apa sih aku nii?? You could stand reading a book with a lousy plot if the storytelling is good. But you would NOT, I repeat, YOU WOULD NOT read a book if the storytelling sucks even though the plot is the most original ever. And I’m going to buy the third installment of “His Dark Materials”. 
