I get a sense of emptiness when I realize that what an author was trying to tell me in some dreadfully long, dreary and depressing book could have been summed up in a page or two, and been much clearer to boot. But that's just how my brain works. I'm still proud, though, of telling my high school literature teacher the same thing and getting a bad grade for it.
A great work of fiction is impossible to sum up in one page. You can recount the exact plot of Infinite Jest but it won't give you anywhere near the same experience.
