Has anyone else noticed absurdly short chapter lengths?
I first noticed it with Jeanette McCurdy's new fiction book, which I flicked through due to a bit of online controversy prior to release. Each chapter was 1-2 pages, which I attributed to her lack of stamina and talent.
Then I noticed it in The Coin, which is litfic, but again I assumed it was due to the author's lack of skill, despite her being a competent prose writer.
Now I'm reading 'You are the Führer's unrequited lover'* by Jean-Noël Orengo, which is about Albert Speer, and again, the chapters are all 2-3 pages long. The longest ones look like maybe 5-6 pages????
I know everyone's attention span is shot, but short chapters are actually really unpleasant to read. They disrupt the flow of narrative horribly. That's why it seems like a lack of proficiency on the part of the author; it gives the impression that they don't have an understanding of pacing. But now I'm worried it's publishers demanding 'easily-digestible' stories. Are all contemporary books going to get even worse, not only due to widespread decline in talent but also because publishers assume no one wants to read more than 1 page at a time?
*Penguin international writers book, styled to look like a fitzcarraldo/NYRB book, i.e. litfic, i.e. middlebrow