Willow's Reviews & Thoughts

Remember I said I wasn't sure I was going to give a deeper review of CHANGES - Dresden Files #12. Well, I came across a book review that has a problem with it. Has a problem specifically with an issue of bonding and emotional intent, clan building and the sense of responsibility. And now I feel urged to say something, because it never occurred to me that people could find Harry's reactions in CHANGES to be unrealistic.

( Here Be Spoilers )

"x is like the Imelda Marcos of dresses"

This, plus a non First Nations individual clutching her medicine bundle, vs protection pouch, satchel, whatever. I can't make myself continue to read. I realize that others can push aside such things; the daily micro aggressions. But life is too short. I'd rather read stuff that doesn't hurt and offend me - support writers doing it right.

On the plus side (maybe), I'm just skipping right along through the possibilities. Though I'm getting nearer to avoiding white writers all together.

PS: Given that the gimmick in this mystery is vintage clothes and I was glazing over descriptions of clothing pieces, colour, fit and other fashion hoo has - I was already giving it a chance.

I don't know how I feel about this novel. I found myself wondering if it was comparing autism to unwanted magical gifts of intrusion. And that spun the entire tale to me. And at other times I saw weaved into it the subtext of the security in selfish self absorption in children and how that protects them from their parents, alongside the emotional abuse (unwilling) when parents lean on their children and expose them to emotions and conflicts they have no scope for. There were reflections on unhappiness and choice and practicality and strength.

And yet, I'm fairly certain some of my unease wasn't intended - unlike the unease surrounding family secrets and conflicts and emotional distance and dysfunction, and emotional immaturity combined with a certain emotional lack of skill and the need to balance being needed with being used with feeling like a person instead of an accessory.

I liked the ease of prose - the journal, talking quality. I think I favour that style.

Hero by Perry Moore

Before I talk about anything else I have to talk about realizing there's a trope I dislike. The trope of the first true love of gayness. Heterosexuals get to kiss frogs, make mistakes, realize things work or don't work for them, grow up and make choices. In books a lot of the times there's a gay character and they either are portrayed as a) turning gay just for that one person or b) being a gay teenager who finds true love (Gays mate like Swans, yo! Never fear, just the right queer meets just the right queer).

On occasion, the one who makes their heart go thub-lub turns out to be too shallow and scared to come out, or something else that isn't villainous but is unhealthy and involves secrets and lies. But the uplifting stories? It always seems to be - and then the teenager boy was looking for love and he almost fell into the hands of a predator, or went into some 'sleazy gay bar' (why are gay bars any more sleazy than straight ones?) but lo and behold there was some virtuous fellow virgin also waiting to make with the immortal gay love story.

I don't know why I think it's more than a romance trope. But it feels like it. It feels like a message that homosexuality is only ok, if the protagonist is yearning for moonlight walks on the beach, and baking cookies with the perfect someone; lesbian or gay man. And then sparkle sparkle, there they are. It's.... it's a little too much 'We're just like you. We're the people next door.'. The whole We're Not Different. See? And To Ostracize Supposed Differences Is Wrong!

More directly related to HERO, was my shock at reading a coming out story and feeling so distanced from the experience. I found myself surprised they were cellphones and laptops in this universe because somehow this was a town large enough for a legacy epic superhero team and yet small enough that there'd be fear of being known as 'The Father of the Fag' and other societal shunning techniques. Maybe I just wasn't buying the protagonist as an actual highschool student and thus my shock was the character felt older, thus too old to be going through those anxieties in quite that way.

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