throwawaymassagedad t1_ivz3q4w wrote
Reply to comment by Hi-isLiv in The Seven Husbands of Eveling Hugo: I don’t get the hype by Hi-isLiv
I appreciate your response. And i completely respect your choices, and I'm sorry your family is abusive. You don't deserve that. As someone also, who comes from a conservative and abusive family, i understand the place you're coming from.
What i would say before diving into why i don't like the book is the fact that i may be too biased because i am an English major? I don't know if that matters or not.
Alright, first of all, kudos to CoHo for making a book that has a flowy style of writing (not sure what it's called). However, it's border-line cringey. CoHo's capabilities as a good writer never surface in the novel. Show, don't tell, is something she decided to ignore, and well, in my opinion, she failed. In the first page itself, the protagonist keeps on rambling on about what she is feeling rather than telling us how she is feeling so that we can conclude her emotions on our own. Her characters are hollow, vague and just very basic. She likes that Disney fish story, and she's obviously not like other girls.
Could CoHo be more obvious? The protagonist is called Lily Bloom. And she's a florist, for fuck's sake? And that guy is named Ryle - holy crap. Anyways, putting all these trivial irritations aside, let's talk about why abuse is glorified.
Diving into this book, i thought it's going to understand abuse, and it's going to actually do something. But no, it's branded as romance. It's truly astounding, how capitalism has modelled this book, this book that is supposed to deal with "abuse", is branded as romance. And im not the one saying this. Miss CoHo says so herself on many occasions, and never is she seen correcting anyone who calls it romance. The author's note in the end takes a sneak peek into CoHo's own life and how she dealt with abuse. Knowing about the note, i thought Ryle was going to face some consequences for his actions. But no. He is branded as a guy who's a part of a love triangle. He never faces any repercussions for his stupid actions. There is sexual assault in the book, and young girls on tiktok apparently find it hot? No one seems to be talking about any of these issues. Poverty is glorified in Atlas Corrigan.
There is excess of italics in the book, how the fuck am i supposed to derive anything if CoHo is sitting on my face, spoon feeding me everything?
And to your response about the book - i am glad you acknowledge the consequences of the book. There are so many people who find nothing wrong with this. It's like they're just floating away with what CoHo tells them as narrators. They like being spoon fed and they don't see the red flags that the book has. It just makes me angry that there is this bee-hive like situation that has been created and no one seems to question the content of the book, but rather engage in BookTok polarisation.
Hi-isLiv OP t1_ivzdtqq wrote
I think it matters you are an English mayor. It means you are an educated reader.
I have a degree in economics so a lot of things are not obvious to me and I have to study and get informed. And I agree about the cringe: the name and the rest.
About the book being labeled as romance: what? Seriously? I didn’t know the backstory of the book. I thought it was popular because was abuse and getting help, ending the cycle and all that. Not that was romantic. At all. When you read it you know the guy is a giant red flag. He is introduced by kicking chairs and forcing her to go near him. She tells him she doesn’t want a night stand and he keeps pushing. I could go on and on. All the signs were there from the beginning.
I also didn’t know that teenagers think this is “hot”. And that’s the problem. Abusers are usually very charming in the beginning, like in this case. I thought the ratio behind having a naive character was to use it as a device to tell a cautionary tale not to send messages like “he shoved me down the stairs but sex is hot and he has a six pack!”
Knowing this I can see where you a coming from and I agree. There is a sort of deception from the author to call this a love triangle and a love story when it’s blatant abuse. Especially if she writes for a younger audience. I will look into this.
The guy doesn’t face consequences and unfortunately it’s sometimes the reality especially when people don’t press charges and there are no records.
throwawaymassagedad t1_ivzfr74 wrote
>“he shoved me down the stairs but sex is hot and he has a six pack!”
This is true. There is a majority of teen audience that finds all this assault hot. I mean, come on. The book is nowhere near dealing with abuse, instead, it deviates farther and farther from it. I get that it is hard to detect abuse, and it is hard to get out of it, but then this discredits CoHo's author's note where she claims to talk about an abuse cycle in this apparently life-changing story. I have mad respect for her for getting out of that situation, but as a part of her "target" audience, I was very underwhelmed with the book. The writing is just horrible, and I could go on and on about it.
However, the issue is also her content. What she claims to do in the author's note and what she actually does in the story are just so in dissonance with each other. I am truly flummoxed by the amount of sales this author is making, because all her books follow the same type of trope. Her characters ought to have some trauma in order to be interesting. Why? I get that mental health is important, but then I am sorry, but she has failed in providing representation to such traumas.
Again, I would like to apologise for my incessant, useless rant. It just angers me so much that our generation is going to be remembered with such people who have done nothing but contribute to the capitalisation of an important art form, that is literature. And again, as an English Major, having read some great works, it is frustrating to see rare writers of our times who manage to write something par excellence.
P. S. Mad respect for your major, i just am so bad at economics that I have so much respect for people who manage to study it haha.
Hi-isLiv OP t1_ivzgzos wrote
I think it’s valid, your rant I mean. I had clsssified that book as a fluffy harmless read that was predictable and non very deep but that resonated on some level. And I didn’t consider the biggest picture. So thank you.
Also I think there is difference between having a “fantasy about abuse” and mistaking romance with actual abuse and, from what you are telling me, the author and marketing team are making bucks on morally gray area. It’s a dangerous game for younger generations.
Have you read Neon Gods? It’s really bad. Like reaaaally bad, but was based on consent to the point you were reminded every ten seconds since I think it was marketed to a younger audience.
throwawaymassagedad t1_ivzpkqj wrote
I haven't read the book, but i am going to read it to see how bad it can get 😂
Hi-isLiv OP t1_ivzpp0w wrote
You’ll stop after “Tarnish me Hades” I guarantee it lol
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