The Woe is Woman Bookclub, Addendum
I chose not to re-read The Time Traveler’s Wife for this month’s book club, ostensibly out of protest: I’ve read this book already and, even if I hadn’t, it’s not the type of book I’d like to get together and discuss over wine and cheese.
Sure, I’ve read Jane Austen repeatedly and have a questionable obsession with fantasy but reading-wise I don’t have that much to be ashamed of: I don’t read Nicholas Sparks. I have no interest in Jennifer Weiner or Jodi Picoult or any other Chick-Lit authors one can find in a supermarket.
As a young girl who never seemed to get the boy, I was, however, occasionally drawn to trashy mass market romance … Was it that impulse, plus my aforementioned love of fantasy that drew me at first to the abomination that is Twilight?
Sadly, no. I started reading these for sheer hilarity… the only problem is, I can’t stop!
As horribly written as they are, they are practically impossible to put down. The more ridiculous the story, the more horrendous the writing, the harder it is to resist. The more incredulous I become at their mere existence.
I continue in some effort to get to the bottom of this mystery… Did these really get published? Are they really an international phenomenon? Really? Are girls so desperate for passionate love (chaste though it may be) that they are willing to put up with kindergarten-level writing?
Obviously, they are. There is little as appealing to a lonely gal as a mysterious, devastatingly attractive boy who is devastatingly in love with you… despite your homely looks, your clumsy nature and your overall boring personality. If my memory serves, this is pretty much the story of every mass market romance I ever opened the lid on.
Sigh… Woe is (the state of) Woman, indeed, if what the Twilight phenomenon says about us is true.
I may need to keep reporting back on the tragic failings of our sex as I proceed through Eclipse, Book 3 of the so-called Saga; some of it must be shared to be believed. (Lucky for me, my OCD is more powerful than my curiosity about the outcome of the story. I bought the first book in paperback, thus, I am beholden to wait for paperback release date for the remaining book; final diagnosis of the state of womanhood will have to wait until Breaking Dawn hits the shelves in 2010.)
