I read. A lot. A read a lot of different stuff, although I generally shun non-fiction (my life is plenty non-fiction for me). Recently, I've been reading a lot of books from a female point of view and I'm sick to death of all of them. All the women in the books are so FREAKING whiny. I just finished the "Sookie Stackhouse" series and every other page it was "Oh Bill, oh Eric, oh Quinn, oh Sam, save me because I weak pathic woman who is incapable of solving my own problems" Blah, no thank you (the series was good and I liked the books, I just got so tired of her helplessness). Rachel, the heroine of the Rachel Morgan books is very similar, although she doesn't often count on a man to save her. Usually she requires saving by her vampire roommate, who happens to be female. But her attitude is "Oh how could I do that? Again." because she keeps making the same bad choices and expecting things to come out differently. If you keep hanging out with and trying to outsmart demons, they are going to keep coming after you and trying to kill you. Duh! Bella in Twilight is another case of someone who can't take care of her self (I will say again, how much I enjoyed the series and how compelled I was by the Bella/Edward relationship). Had she been a vamp from day one, it might have been better since besides having the desire to take care of herself (which I will admit that she did, unlike many of the other's mentioned) she would have had the ability as well.
But seriously, I want my heroines like Kinsey Millhone or Anita Blake. They might get scared (when the bad guy has you cornered in a hallway and is shooting at you or trying to tear your throat out, you earn the right to get scared), they might get hurt, they might get discouraged but they rarely need rescuing and they never need it from any man that happens to be handy and most importantly, no matter what else, they aren't afraid to shoot the bad guy in the face.
Why can't there be more heroines like that? Really, do authors, especially female authors feel that women are really that dependant? That they really need rescued all that often? That they are incapable of taking care of themselves? Makes me very sad :(
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
2 comments:
I have had similar reactions to stories featuring a female lead that is somehow supposed to be strong...just because she's the lead character. It might be totally off for your taste buds, but there's a female non-fiction writer named Rosemary Mahoney that I think is fantastic. Each book is a personal account of trips she's taken to various countries for a certain purpose; she spent a year teaching in China, she canoed by herself up a portion of the Nile, she participated in a number of pilgrimages (this is not a book of religious endorsement). So if you're in the mood to read about an honest, intelligent woman with a straightforward style and amazing real life stories, check her out.
I hear ya. One that comes to mind that you might like...Sunshine by Robin Mckinely.
Post a Comment