Day 11 – A book you hated
Now, there are many books I’ve read that are certainly written worse. There are certain books that offend me more. I could rant about how this book makes up its own mythology as it goes along to drive the story in the direction the author wants, or seems to nail hypocritical female sexuality on the head. I could talk about how, at its core, this book is about glamorizing violence against women and missing the point of heroic sacrifice entirely.
But the author would have me be nice.
Well, blacklist me all you’d like.
Works don’t exist in a vacuum. A work is not an entire reflection on the author – it may consist of their ideologies, but it might not – when I study debate, one key tactic is understand your opponent, so that you might prepare ahead of time. I can debate something I don’t believe in easily. Yes, books might be precious inner-workings of our psyche, a labor of love and sweat that, might be misinterpreted.
That doesn’t mean books of every caliber – literary, mainstream, and cheap pulp, shouldn’t be discussed.
Maybe it’s just in a place I am personally, but I don’t see general criticism as an attack – I’ve seen it as an attack, but if I want to be a professional, I have to stand up to the rigors of testing. And, I think science-fiction and fantasy titles, should they be strong enough, should be worthy of literary consideration. We can’t get there unless we expose our flaws.
Love this book? Great – enjoy. I have no problem if you like this book, and think everything I said was completely out of context. Find like-minded people who share the mindset of talking the way you do and enjoying books your way. But when you see me doing an analysis, or someone’s talking about some rather disturbing trends in YA, or maybe, they just didn’t like something and they lack the means to articulate it – maybe that’s not necessarily a discussion for you. I know I get snarkier with certain friends – it’s just the way we are. For some people, they won’t have the people in real life who are willing to discuss a theme in a movie or book – not even at the college level. So if they have a personal blog or review site or whatever and they want to discuss a theme in a movie or a book – I say allow the discussion, and let’s not penalize wannabe writers for following an unpopular opinion, voicing warranted criticism, or even being wrong.
Furthermore, are novels:
1) A Science
2) An Art
Now, which one of those is subjective, and which one is objective? Granted, spelling, grammar – those are objective rules laid out,. Don’t freak out if someone says something mean – and it’s okay to be angry, or rant. But the internet is a giant place of misunderstanding of tone. Grow up if you want to be taken seriously – and yeah, if you are feeling really bad for yourself, go find a bestseller and go read all their one-star reviews.
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