Moth and Spark
Jul. 24th, 2015 05:39 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
beccaelizabethI'm on day 4 of trying to finish this dratted book. I didn't want to name it when I'd read less than 100 pages, but now I'm in sight of the ending, I'll name.
I sat down to write something long and thorough about all the ways I can't be having with this book, but it's actually still real short:
The female protagonist is Not Like Other Girls, and that's used instead of giving her positive qualities. They make her exceptional not by lifting her up but by putting all other women down.
Sod that.
She doesn't have a single female friend. Or a married female friend. Or a woman she talks to that isn't at least vaguely an enemy.
Her virtues are told, not shown. They've never yet been relevant to the plot. She knows a thing about poisons! ... it's the same thing the doctor examining the corpse knows, and it saves no lives. It doesn't even bring her to the attention of the Prince. They meet cute in the library where they bump and drop books and papers. She demonstrates how different she is by actually talking back to the Prince! He has been looking everywhere for someone who can talk! Match made in heaven!
I gave up last night at a paragraph where she asks the Prince why he loves her:
I gave up right there, because how many layers of blah?
First of all, what he sees in her is that she sees him. What? How is that a unique virtue, or even a virtue belonging to her? He sees him in her mind, as viewed by her, and so he's in love. Narcissism much?
Second, he didn't give anyone else a chance, and has in fact been actively avoiding marriage and relationships up until now. For which he blames women. Because they didn't try hard enough, they weren't interested, they didn't want him enough.
But! She could achieve his feat of vision because she didn't want to!
... it's like the makeup rules. A woman shouldn't wear too much makeup, in fact should look natural, no make up. But actually walking around with no makeup? No, no, looks bad. What's wrong with that skin? Those eyes? Should look fresh and natural like her over there! Except of course her over there always has a full face on. Same like movie women, especially the ones that are Not Like Other Girls, they're all wearing makeup while declaring themselves teh kind of person who wouldn't. Because heaven forfend anyone breaks the illusion.
Women who want, women who desire, those are the fluttery predatory types who just wanted to marry him. Oh noes, how terrible for him.
Woman who will sleep with him with no expectation of marriage is the one who gets a ring.
*facepalm*
the double bind in action.
I am so done with this character. Because it's not just one girl in one book, it's whole swathes of women who are Not Like Other Girls and who are most attractive when they're not interested.
No.
Women want. Women desire. Women try and establish relationships, because that's what sensible mature people do when they want to have a relationship.
Stories that refuse to acknowledge that let alone reward it are just near infinitely frustrating.
There's also the thing where nobody in this damn book does anything. From the get go both the point of view people are done to. None of their actions or decisions have made the slightest impact on the plot, and I'm on page 327 with less than 80 pages left to go.
They don't even find things out, in that they don't go off and discover things and ask questions and so forth. Her especially, him most of the time. They just have things dumped into their brains without asking, in the form of visions.
What is supposed to be interesting about any of this?
And it's frustrating for lack for agency in a female character. She decided to sleep with the Prince, but there's no sense there were alternatives. So she enthusiastically wants the only option presented to her, that... that doesn't seem very free. And then after a lot of running around she decides to go back to the city, that she needs to be there. But then someone turns up and says the Prince wants her elsewhere, so okay, off she goes. Having learnt absolutely nothing by going to the city that hadn't been dumped in her brain by visions already. No choices, no moment of decision, no... point.
Dear writers: Feature a minimum of two female characters who have the knowledge and abilities and connections to potentially get things done, then show the protagonist is special by having her do things best. Not 'better than nothing' but 'best of a sharp field'.
Honestly, it's not complicated.
I sat down to write something long and thorough about all the ways I can't be having with this book, but it's actually still real short:
The female protagonist is Not Like Other Girls, and that's used instead of giving her positive qualities. They make her exceptional not by lifting her up but by putting all other women down.
Sod that.
She doesn't have a single female friend. Or a married female friend. Or a woman she talks to that isn't at least vaguely an enemy.
Her virtues are told, not shown. They've never yet been relevant to the plot. She knows a thing about poisons! ... it's the same thing the doctor examining the corpse knows, and it saves no lives. It doesn't even bring her to the attention of the Prince. They meet cute in the library where they bump and drop books and papers. She demonstrates how different she is by actually talking back to the Prince! He has been looking everywhere for someone who can talk! Match made in heaven!
I gave up last night at a paragraph where she asks the Prince why he loves her:
"Because you are the first woman who paid me the honor of actually seeing me," [...] "I'll concede I didn't give many women much of a chance to, but none of them were interested in it."
"I had no intent to lay you bare."
"That's why you could."
I gave up right there, because how many layers of blah?
First of all, what he sees in her is that she sees him. What? How is that a unique virtue, or even a virtue belonging to her? He sees him in her mind, as viewed by her, and so he's in love. Narcissism much?
Second, he didn't give anyone else a chance, and has in fact been actively avoiding marriage and relationships up until now. For which he blames women. Because they didn't try hard enough, they weren't interested, they didn't want him enough.
But! She could achieve his feat of vision because she didn't want to!
... it's like the makeup rules. A woman shouldn't wear too much makeup, in fact should look natural, no make up. But actually walking around with no makeup? No, no, looks bad. What's wrong with that skin? Those eyes? Should look fresh and natural like her over there! Except of course her over there always has a full face on. Same like movie women, especially the ones that are Not Like Other Girls, they're all wearing makeup while declaring themselves teh kind of person who wouldn't. Because heaven forfend anyone breaks the illusion.
Women who want, women who desire, those are the fluttery predatory types who just wanted to marry him. Oh noes, how terrible for him.
Woman who will sleep with him with no expectation of marriage is the one who gets a ring.
*facepalm*
the double bind in action.
I am so done with this character. Because it's not just one girl in one book, it's whole swathes of women who are Not Like Other Girls and who are most attractive when they're not interested.
No.
Women want. Women desire. Women try and establish relationships, because that's what sensible mature people do when they want to have a relationship.
Stories that refuse to acknowledge that let alone reward it are just near infinitely frustrating.
There's also the thing where nobody in this damn book does anything. From the get go both the point of view people are done to. None of their actions or decisions have made the slightest impact on the plot, and I'm on page 327 with less than 80 pages left to go.
They don't even find things out, in that they don't go off and discover things and ask questions and so forth. Her especially, him most of the time. They just have things dumped into their brains without asking, in the form of visions.
What is supposed to be interesting about any of this?
And it's frustrating for lack for agency in a female character. She decided to sleep with the Prince, but there's no sense there were alternatives. So she enthusiastically wants the only option presented to her, that... that doesn't seem very free. And then after a lot of running around she decides to go back to the city, that she needs to be there. But then someone turns up and says the Prince wants her elsewhere, so okay, off she goes. Having learnt absolutely nothing by going to the city that hadn't been dumped in her brain by visions already. No choices, no moment of decision, no... point.
Dear writers: Feature a minimum of two female characters who have the knowledge and abilities and connections to potentially get things done, then show the protagonist is special by having her do things best. Not 'better than nothing' but 'best of a sharp field'.
Honestly, it's not complicated.