Apparently, the new female is a pretty superficial beast. I was talking with Squirrel Boy about books that encompass a guy's journey through life - journeys into maturity, or just passing through certain stages of existence. The Magus seems to have been doing that job for ages, but so have a million other books. The bildungsroman is basically the story of a man's life and if a guy is looking to read a book where he can relate to the life changes of the main character, he doesn't have to search for very long.
I find what I'm trying to describe...well... hard to describe. It's like those novels that speak to you because the main character is going through something that you can totally relate to. And of course, there are novels with male protagonists that female readers can relate to (and vice versa), but like in children's novels, there are certain parts of life that are a little bit gender specific. Boys can read books about girls getting boobs and bleeding through their genitals, but it's not really something that specifically relates to the physical and emotional changes they are going through.
Hopefully, you all get the type of books I'm talking about. It got me thinking about how many bildungsromans there are for women these days and I can't come up with many. Yes, there are many that exist in genre fiction like mystery or fantasy, but just a regular fiction book is hard to find. Unless I think of my journey through life as being the quest to make enough money for a pair of ridiculously expensive shoes (I was going to put Manolos in there, but I don't know how to spell it and I decided I didn't want to know).
There are a million Shopaholic type books out where apparently if my life was only about finding money to go to swanky places, buy swanky clothes, find a swanky guy and generally surround myself in swankiness, I could relate to the female character's journey.
But I am not this girl and I'm getting kinda pissed about the fact that I can't seem to find many general fiction books where I relate to the female protagonist and she help me through what is happening in my life. The Time Traveler's Wife does a great job of this and is just the most amazing book ever (it really is people) but again, a bit of a fantasy novel. It's the story of a man who is able to travel through time, but he has no control over it and the story is told from both his perspective and that of his true love. It's really a story about the journey of a couple and it's a beautiful and not too twee account of Big Love.
Female Canadian authors are really the only ones I can think of at this point that fit into the general fiction category and do what I want them to do. Margaret Laurence's The Diviners is my book, it's the one I read over and over again and each time I relate to different parts of Morag's journey through her life. It grows with me. And for younger days, A Complicated Kindness and Summer of My Amazing Luck by Miriam Toews are such humorous and true adult accounts of what it's like to be an intelligent teenage girl that it astounds me (though I find A Boy of Good Breeding to be her best work).
But what about the girls my age - I'm not saying the characters have to be hippie, patchouli wearing, careerless students like me - but I want something for the intelligent, not entirely superficial, girl in her 30's (okay so I'm not quite there yet, close e-fuckin'-nuff). Does such a character exist? I found she existed in Bridget Jones the movie (I found the book to be pretty abysmal, the story and the characters were far more real in the movie). Obviously, Buffy counts. But I'm talking books here people, you know those things I used to read before slash came along and took over my life?
I freely admit that I haven't read that many books and I know I'm forgetting stuff I've read, but why am I having such a hard time thinking of books like this? If anyone can give me some examples, I would be very appreciate...not "I'll give you head" appreciative, but perhaps, "I'll buy you a coffee" appreciative. Or I guess, once I read the book you've suggested, I'll see how appreciative I am.
I find what I'm trying to describe...well... hard to describe. It's like those novels that speak to you because the main character is going through something that you can totally relate to. And of course, there are novels with male protagonists that female readers can relate to (and vice versa), but like in children's novels, there are certain parts of life that are a little bit gender specific. Boys can read books about girls getting boobs and bleeding through their genitals, but it's not really something that specifically relates to the physical and emotional changes they are going through.
Hopefully, you all get the type of books I'm talking about. It got me thinking about how many bildungsromans there are for women these days and I can't come up with many. Yes, there are many that exist in genre fiction like mystery or fantasy, but just a regular fiction book is hard to find. Unless I think of my journey through life as being the quest to make enough money for a pair of ridiculously expensive shoes (I was going to put Manolos in there, but I don't know how to spell it and I decided I didn't want to know).
There are a million Shopaholic type books out where apparently if my life was only about finding money to go to swanky places, buy swanky clothes, find a swanky guy and generally surround myself in swankiness, I could relate to the female character's journey.
But I am not this girl and I'm getting kinda pissed about the fact that I can't seem to find many general fiction books where I relate to the female protagonist and she help me through what is happening in my life. The Time Traveler's Wife does a great job of this and is just the most amazing book ever (it really is people) but again, a bit of a fantasy novel. It's the story of a man who is able to travel through time, but he has no control over it and the story is told from both his perspective and that of his true love. It's really a story about the journey of a couple and it's a beautiful and not too twee account of Big Love.
Female Canadian authors are really the only ones I can think of at this point that fit into the general fiction category and do what I want them to do. Margaret Laurence's The Diviners is my book, it's the one I read over and over again and each time I relate to different parts of Morag's journey through her life. It grows with me. And for younger days, A Complicated Kindness and Summer of My Amazing Luck by Miriam Toews are such humorous and true adult accounts of what it's like to be an intelligent teenage girl that it astounds me (though I find A Boy of Good Breeding to be her best work).
But what about the girls my age - I'm not saying the characters have to be hippie, patchouli wearing, careerless students like me - but I want something for the intelligent, not entirely superficial, girl in her 30's (okay so I'm not quite there yet, close e-fuckin'-nuff). Does such a character exist? I found she existed in Bridget Jones the movie (I found the book to be pretty abysmal, the story and the characters were far more real in the movie). Obviously, Buffy counts. But I'm talking books here people, you know those things I used to read before slash came along and took over my life?
I freely admit that I haven't read that many books and I know I'm forgetting stuff I've read, but why am I having such a hard time thinking of books like this? If anyone can give me some examples, I would be very appreciate...not "I'll give you head" appreciative, but perhaps, "I'll buy you a coffee" appreciative. Or I guess, once I read the book you've suggested, I'll see how appreciative I am.
3 Comments:
I think you're right - when I hear about books that are supposed to speak to me, I wonder about how far off from normal I am. And I know tonnes of guys who talk about Fight Club as something they understand on level they have trouble talking about, but it is rather a gendered work. I can't think of anything not genred that really does it - Visible Amazement is too young and Venous Hum... well, my mom's not a vampire and my sweetie isn't a lawyer... but some of the frustration I can understand all too well.
I guess we know what we need to start writing.
Henry Miller in Tropic of Capricorn really spoke to 29 year old Leah. I think more than anything I've ever read. I know, he's not a girl but I'm really a boy anyway.
And I haven't read the book that it was based on yet, but parts of the movie The Favourite Game really hit home for me. Another boy, but this time Leonard Cohen. I have to go out and buy that book now. I'd forgotten all about it. Thanks =)
xo,
leah
Well ladies, I think we have found a niche we need to fill. And yes, Carol Shields, also a good canadian chick. Apparently, Canadian women are the only ones left in the English speaking language that portray women's lives sans footwear.
And to Leahbear, I too am a boy as you know (well, as I've said before, a hermaphrodite in a woman's body) cuz Fight Club totally spoke to me.
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