I’m tired of downer books. I don’t want to be depressed after reading for
three hours. Bear with me: I’ll explain
further.
The problem is, most of the downer
elements of grim books involve women who are victims. Either victims of crime,
or victims of a patriarchal society.
Scandinavian Noir is full of the first.
In fact, most noir novels include a female who is murdered and often
hideously mutilated. That’s so much fun
for women to read.
So here goes:
I don’t want to read any more books about
women who are abused or downtrodden. I
know there are several good books out there right now featuring such
women. Some are historical. Some are current day. It’s not that they aren’t good. It’s just that I don’t want to read any more
of them. I’ve read enough.
Imagine, men, if most of the books you had read involved men
who had been victimized, or relegated to second class status by another
gender. One or a few might be interesting
to read. But a steady diet of
these? Would you not find it
depressing? Not to mention,
discouraging?
I don’t want to read any more
books about neurotic women, or women who can’t get it together.
I dread more
‘unreliable narrators.’ Salient point: did
you notice that most (okay, every single one I can think of) unreliable
narrators on the bestseller lists recently are women? Does that say something to you about how
society views women? It does to me. No more ‘girl’ books.
I don’t want to read
any more books this year with female protagonists that are written by men. Yes, that means some of the bestselling crime
books out there. They may be very well
written. But these rarely sound like
women’s stories to me. They aren’t
written with the same lens.
What I want: books
with intelligent female protagonists written by women. I want more women’s stories. Books that I can be proud to hand on to my
daughters, and say, see what is possible?
She isn’t a victim! She’s someone
like you.
Trouble is, I can’t FIND many books like that. The bestseller lists today are filled with
protagonists who are unstable, neurotic women.
Let me be clear: a lot of people
enjoy these books. They may be very well
written. They wouldn’t be on bestseller
lists, otherwise.
But I’m tired of them.
I want a ripping good story with a female protagonist, written by a
woman. I want a strong, admirable
protagonist I can relate to and care about.
Hell, I want to *be* the protagonist for a few hours.
And not come away feeling downtrodden.
Bad Girl writes loopy comedies to blow away the blues. And she guarantees that the women protagonist and secondaries in her books kick butt.
THE GODDAUGHTER DOES VEGAS - latest in the "Hilarious" (EQMM) mob goddaughter series - no blues allowed! On Amazon

Bad Girl writes loopy comedies to blow away the blues. And she guarantees that the women protagonist and secondaries in her books kick butt.
THE GODDAUGHTER DOES VEGAS - latest in the "Hilarious" (EQMM) mob goddaughter series - no blues allowed! On Amazon