If you have no qualms about any characters in literature past and present, it might be a good idea to click the red X button on the top right hand corner of the screen instead of reading on.
Right! Where do I even begin?
Okay maybe I shall start here: There seems to be this current trend of having characters who are romantically obsessed with the male/female lead of the story. This trend has made me literally toss books back onto stores' bookshelf because I cannot ever be pulled into stories like that
Look, I know I've said that I'm not a huge lover of romance novels and therefore I may not be the right person to be commenting about what constitutes as romance and what doesn't, but come on! I do not think that obsessing over someone is romantic at all! In fact, I think it's downright creepy! I believe the term "stalker" applies.
Also, the way these characters are portrayed; as people who have two-dimensional personalities because they don't have a life other than just obsessing and fantasizing over their romantic interests, just infuriates me because every fibre of my being thinks that nobody on earth exists solely just to obsess over another person, everybody has a life and everybody has their own personalities, fears and goals!
On a side note, I hate female characters who do absolutely peanuts to improve their situation because they believe that their male romantic interest will come and save them. Give me any book that reads like that and I won't bother reading it; much less recommend it.
Look, I'm not someone who thinks males don't have the right to exist. I'm just someone who thinks that girls are strong enough to stand up for what they believe is worth fighting for; that girls don't need a "someday my prince will come and rescue me" reprise in the background because they can rescue themselves and kick some butts while they're at it, thank you very much! Give me a book with those kind of girls and I'd love it. Give me a book with a weak, insipid heroine (wait, is she even worthy to be called a heroine?!) and I'd chuck it in the bin.
Yes, I know, sometimes it is nice and romantic to sort of sit and think of a guy faraway who will come and rescue you from your humdrum life (only God knows how many times I'm guilty of this lol) but you know what? I'm going to fight whatever battles come my way regardless; I'm not going to put my life on hold for the dude!
Right! Now on to my next main gripe.
I do NOT understand why there seems to be this notion that close guy friends of a girl must either turn out to be a gay friend (who knows how to pick pretty dresses for said girl to impress her romantic interest *rolls eyes*) or be in love with the girl. Why can't guy friends just be a straight, guy friend? Personally, I love it when authors chuck a guy and a girl together as friends and just enjoy what's birthed out of that friendship. After all, a girl-girl friendship is a relationship with different dynamics as compared to a girl-guy friendship and I love seeing both types of relationships done well :)
Even if the guy friend has to fall in love with the girl, why can't authors explore it in more detail in other creative ways? Rather than just a: Ben had always been in love with Pauline but could never admit it type of thing? Why not something along the lines of: they had always been friends since kids, but now in adulthood, something changed; they had a new outlook on that person?
Okay, now that I've gotten that off my chest, I shall rally on with my thesis. I will again take my leave for the next two weeks ... by the end of which I would have officially finished my thesis wahoo!
P.S. - Sorry about the whole rant thing but these trends have really been getting on my nerves; particularly this week when I keep seeing reminders of them everywhere I look. -_-
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