Dr. Feelgood
intellectual nerd
I read a romance novel and was stunned. I read another one, just to see if it was like the first one. It was. I read a third one as a check on the first two. I do not think I am going to read a fourth one.
Here's the thing: in all these books, the beautiful, tempestuous heroine (who is named something like Raven or Storm; not an Emily in the bunch) is continually being told to do something (or not do something) by the craggy, square-jawed hero (who has a monosyllabic name like Chad or Thud). She chafes at this and looks for a man who will consider her moderately competent. When she finds him, he turns out to be the villain. At the last moment Thud rides in, thrashes the villain, tells Eruption (or whatever her name is) "I told you so," and she realizes he has been her dream man all along. The moral of the story is that silly little girls should shut up and do what men tell them. Now I know a few men who would heartily agree, but it seems to me that women would find this idea demeaning. Yet a bookseller friend has assured me that women devour these novels like salted peanuts. Why? What is the attraction?
Here's the thing: in all these books, the beautiful, tempestuous heroine (who is named something like Raven or Storm; not an Emily in the bunch) is continually being told to do something (or not do something) by the craggy, square-jawed hero (who has a monosyllabic name like Chad or Thud). She chafes at this and looks for a man who will consider her moderately competent. When she finds him, he turns out to be the villain. At the last moment Thud rides in, thrashes the villain, tells Eruption (or whatever her name is) "I told you so," and she realizes he has been her dream man all along. The moral of the story is that silly little girls should shut up and do what men tell them. Now I know a few men who would heartily agree, but it seems to me that women would find this idea demeaning. Yet a bookseller friend has assured me that women devour these novels like salted peanuts. Why? What is the attraction?
