First Person Narratives

[heslopian]

I was reading an extract from We Need to Talk About Kevin, by Lionel Shriver, a few days ago when I started thinking about how novels written in the first person must have a hard time staying true to how people talk casually while maintaining an aesthetic. We Need to Talk About Kevin is written in the form of letters from a woman to her ex-husband. It seemed heavy on metaphor, imagery and elegant, flowing lines, which is what I expect from a novel, but is it how people write letters?
Lolita made sense to me because it was written as the memoirs of a man who considered himself a poet and had studied literature. He wasn't some average Joe who suddenly starts spouting Shakespearean verse.
I generally prefer third person prose as first to me is often messy and unrewarding, the inescapable subjectivity a distraction from the novel’s (or short story’s) style.
What are you thoughts on this? Do you prefer first, third or sometimes even second person prose?

[billy]

i think or would thin people write letters in the first person. personaly with novels i prefer a mixture of 1st and 2nd person.
i like to be in the picture somewhat and if it's a;; 1st person, i feel excluded.

moved/to much to do with writing not to be here./admin

[Wildcard]

   I read a lot, but frankly I'm not versed on the different perspectives and their uses. I prefer the omniscient 'god' mode of writing. First person fiction is ok from time to time, but I like to know what everyone involved is thinking and feeling. Perhaps a little more mystery is possible in the first person, however. It allows the author to put the reader in the protaganist's (sometimes) ignorant state.
   Certain limitations of first person are hard to deal with though. As Jack points out, dialogues in the first person sometimes can seem contrived either because of flowery poetic language; fast-paced, uber intelligent 'Gilmore-Girl-speak' or from an overly presumptious use of dialect. Mark Twain wrote a few of his lighter works in the first person and it seemed to work fine for me, but generally speaking I would rather read an omniscient point of view.