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I ended up finishing a novel last night that I've been slowly reading over the past few weeks. It comes with a blurb from an author I love, but urgh, I just couldn't get into it. I finally ended up skimming to the end. It was depressing in that cloying way that unfortunately sticks with you afterwords--a heroine who is simply always depressed, who has a very relative sense of morals, and who lives in a world of moral relativity. I guess there are just some things that keep me from loving a book no matter how well written, and one of them is that murder and official disloyalty in the marriage department are just wrong--even if everyone in the fictional society thinks they're A-OK. I sort of wish the author had written the book about the love interest, instead--a much cheerier person who didn't sit around feeling sorry for himself all the time. You've got to be able to like your main character enough to stick with them for 200-400 pages, you know? The funny thing is that when I glanced at online reviews, most reviewers LOVED the book. It's not the first time--I read one last year where the love interest saw nothing wrong with shooting his beloved, then apologizing, and the girl said, okay, that's fine, I know you're sorry. I was like, what?? No, girls. That is NOT an example of the kind of boy you should find attractive. Yet readers gushed.
Anyway, I know that different books are for different people, but I do worry sometimes about readers who perhaps already have a skewed idea on what a healthy relationship is, and then read something that seems to emphasize their unhealthy ideas as something ideal. When I read something that peels back those dysfunctional ideas (like Sara Zarr's How to Save a Life--SO good with showing what's wrong with Mandy's mother's view of how relationships work), or that just show an example of people trusting each other and working for each other's benefit instead of trying to control each other, I just feel so glad. We need more of the good stuff, people! Not in a prescriptive way, no--but maybe in a celebratory sort of way? It's a tricky line, for sure, to write about imperfect people who struggle, yet show without sermonizing what a possible healthy life might be like. What do you think is the author's role here?
Anyway, I know that different books are for different people, but I do worry sometimes about readers who perhaps already have a skewed idea on what a healthy relationship is, and then read something that seems to emphasize their unhealthy ideas as something ideal. When I read something that peels back those dysfunctional ideas (like Sara Zarr's How to Save a Life--SO good with showing what's wrong with Mandy's mother's view of how relationships work), or that just show an example of people trusting each other and working for each other's benefit instead of trying to control each other, I just feel so glad. We need more of the good stuff, people! Not in a prescriptive way, no--but maybe in a celebratory sort of way? It's a tricky line, for sure, to write about imperfect people who struggle, yet show without sermonizing what a possible healthy life might be like. What do you think is the author's role here?
