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meganbmoore Anyone ever read a book they should love, but can't quite?
I'm reading (though I'm thinking I'll set it aside for now and try it again later...like, sometime when I haven't just read 2 articles that are all about how you have to write to make the male great and have the girl meaningless if you want to sell, and haven't seen the only icon post ever-that I've seen-of one of my manga and have it have a huge number of icons, but the only female represented is the one who died before the series started) Diana Wynne Jones's Fire and Hemlock. On the one hand, I really like the story, which seems to be shaping up to be a retelling of Tam Lin, and the way Polly seems to have two sets of memories that don't go together, but...it seems specifically written for girls who want to be boys, or who wanted to when they were young.
Polly doesn't like looking like a pretty girl, she wants to look like her best friend, who is described in ver unfeminine terms. When she has adventures being a hero's sidekick, she specifically pictures herself as a male sidekick. All of her hobbies are specifically pointed out as normally being for boys. When she stands up to bullies, she hates it when everyone calls her a Heroine, because that's just surface and meaningless, but being a Hero is real and your true self.
I like Polly, but I keep wanting to shake her and tell her that there's nothing wrong with being a girl, and it seems to be pointed out how much she doesn't like things connected to being female every few pages.
Does this continue the entire book, or is there ever a point where she realizes that it's ok to be a girl, and that you don't have to be a boy to be strong or cool or have adventures?
(And yeah, I realize a lot of this probably has to do with when it was written, but...)
*Was mistaken for a boy once when she had really short hair, and has never had short hair ever since.*
ETA: Since I probably didn't make it clear enough(from what I can tell): I think a lot of my problems(being this prominent, at least) are due to my reading it right now. I know who recced it to me and can tell why, and agree with their reasons from what I've read and shall try it again later. Just very bad timing.
I'm reading (though I'm thinking I'll set it aside for now and try it again later...like, sometime when I haven't just read 2 articles that are all about how you have to write to make the male great and have the girl meaningless if you want to sell, and haven't seen the only icon post ever-that I've seen-of one of my manga and have it have a huge number of icons, but the only female represented is the one who died before the series started) Diana Wynne Jones's Fire and Hemlock. On the one hand, I really like the story, which seems to be shaping up to be a retelling of Tam Lin, and the way Polly seems to have two sets of memories that don't go together, but...it seems specifically written for girls who want to be boys, or who wanted to when they were young.
Polly doesn't like looking like a pretty girl, she wants to look like her best friend, who is described in ver unfeminine terms. When she has adventures being a hero's sidekick, she specifically pictures herself as a male sidekick. All of her hobbies are specifically pointed out as normally being for boys. When she stands up to bullies, she hates it when everyone calls her a Heroine, because that's just surface and meaningless, but being a Hero is real and your true self.
I like Polly, but I keep wanting to shake her and tell her that there's nothing wrong with being a girl, and it seems to be pointed out how much she doesn't like things connected to being female every few pages.
Does this continue the entire book, or is there ever a point where she realizes that it's ok to be a girl, and that you don't have to be a boy to be strong or cool or have adventures?
(And yeah, I realize a lot of this probably has to do with when it was written, but...)
*Was mistaken for a boy once when she had really short hair, and has never had short hair ever since.*
ETA: Since I probably didn't make it clear enough(from what I can tell): I think a lot of my problems(being this prominent, at least) are due to my reading it right now. I know who recced it to me and can tell why, and agree with their reasons from what I've read and shall try it again later. Just very bad timing.