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SBD: watching the train wreck
Sep. 15th, 2008 07:51 pm'Tis Monday. Though Beth has not banged the drum for SBD lately, I'm still going to blather a little bit. (Hope she's okay, and just busy doing other stuff, and thus too busy to blog.)
Two of the books that I've read lately have relationships at their centers that are rather dysfunctional. In one case, the relationship is not just dysfunctional but physically torturous and a dangerous mind fuck. In the other, the relationship itself isn't the problem as much as everything that accompanies the two people involved -- gang/criminal violence, dysfunctional families and patterns of interacting with others, especially those of the opposite sex.
Neither of these books is a genre romance novel, which probably explains why I'm fascinated by the train wreck and not at all disturbed by the graphic violence and often amoral behavior that is exhibited. If I were expecting a HEA for the protagonists in Book #2 above, I would be sadly disappointed, because while I absolutely believe that they love each other, I am equally certain that they are going to end badly, painfully and violently, probably through the violent death of one or both characters. Given the violence that permeates the series and the physical damage they've both endured, it seems fairly likely to me. Knowing that a hero or heroine is likely to die would put a damper on the HEA for me. Not so much here. And in Book #1, well, the draw of the series is the utterly disturbing relationship between the narrator and the object of his obsession...who is mutually obsessed by him.
Contrast this with my response to a First Page offering over at Dear Author this past weekend. I read it, and then thought, nope, not interested. Nothing on that page was disturbing or creepy, nor did it hint of violence or physical trauma. But I still couldn't be arsed to buy or attempt to read a book that began that way. Why? Because the narrator struck me as criminally naive and stupid. Maybe she had reasons for waiting a week before thinking about the ramifications of her husband's disappearance. But I'm just not interested.
I've been trying to figure out why I can read fiction that includes unhealthy relationships without being disturbed, but have to put down some womens fiction and back away carefully. Is it because womens fiction so often seems to have women starting not just in a position of weakness or frailty or naivete, but of out right stupidity? Maybe it's easier for me to grasp the idea of a woman as a manipulative serial killer than to read (yet again) about a woman who is so utterly trusting that she has no concept of how to take care of herself or plan for the future. Maybe this is just a womens fiction trope that stomps on one of my hot buttons, and did so at a time when I was questioning my tolerance for and enjoyment of a couple of other books that, strictly speaking, are not peopled by the nicest of characters.
And that's all I've got to say for SBD.
What do you think? Is it the genre difference (and the differing expectations) that makes the train wreck relationships easier to watch, since they aren't romance novels? Or is it all about my WF hot button? Opinions?
Two of the books that I've read lately have relationships at their centers that are rather dysfunctional. In one case, the relationship is not just dysfunctional but physically torturous and a dangerous mind fuck. In the other, the relationship itself isn't the problem as much as everything that accompanies the two people involved -- gang/criminal violence, dysfunctional families and patterns of interacting with others, especially those of the opposite sex.
Neither of these books is a genre romance novel, which probably explains why I'm fascinated by the train wreck and not at all disturbed by the graphic violence and often amoral behavior that is exhibited. If I were expecting a HEA for the protagonists in Book #2 above, I would be sadly disappointed, because while I absolutely believe that they love each other, I am equally certain that they are going to end badly, painfully and violently, probably through the violent death of one or both characters. Given the violence that permeates the series and the physical damage they've both endured, it seems fairly likely to me. Knowing that a hero or heroine is likely to die would put a damper on the HEA for me. Not so much here. And in Book #1, well, the draw of the series is the utterly disturbing relationship between the narrator and the object of his obsession...who is mutually obsessed by him.
Contrast this with my response to a First Page offering over at Dear Author this past weekend. I read it, and then thought, nope, not interested. Nothing on that page was disturbing or creepy, nor did it hint of violence or physical trauma. But I still couldn't be arsed to buy or attempt to read a book that began that way. Why? Because the narrator struck me as criminally naive and stupid. Maybe she had reasons for waiting a week before thinking about the ramifications of her husband's disappearance. But I'm just not interested.
I've been trying to figure out why I can read fiction that includes unhealthy relationships without being disturbed, but have to put down some womens fiction and back away carefully. Is it because womens fiction so often seems to have women starting not just in a position of weakness or frailty or naivete, but of out right stupidity? Maybe it's easier for me to grasp the idea of a woman as a manipulative serial killer than to read (yet again) about a woman who is so utterly trusting that she has no concept of how to take care of herself or plan for the future. Maybe this is just a womens fiction trope that stomps on one of my hot buttons, and did so at a time when I was questioning my tolerance for and enjoyment of a couple of other books that, strictly speaking, are not peopled by the nicest of characters.
And that's all I've got to say for SBD.
What do you think? Is it the genre difference (and the differing expectations) that makes the train wreck relationships easier to watch, since they aren't romance novels? Or is it all about my WF hot button? Opinions?
