I’m not going through the current books that I’m reading as fast as I went through Pride and Prejudice but that has a little more to do with my changed schedule and workplace than with my interest in the books (although, yes, I have so far enjoyed Pride and Prejudice more than I have enjoyed the other two).
The Secret River and A Song for the Dying are my current readings and if I pay a bit more attention to them I should be done with The Secret River before the end of next week. I don’t mind the novel, I enjoy the imagery and do like pieces that are set in other times, but it’s a little frustrating to read because of the portrayal of Indigenous Australians, or more precisely non-Indigenous perceptions of them. The comfort is that this is done honestly, reflecting properly the way that non-Indigenous people treated Indigenous Australians without dressing it up too much or completely altering the representation that exists on the other side of the eyes of the Thornhills.
A Song for the Dying is moving a little more slowly because I have little interest in the characters. I don’t mind the plot so far (the serial killer M.O is interesting) but there are only a few characters I am interested in, either in like or dislike, and neither are central enough yet that I have grown to care about them. It is too early to say that I’m not interested in the characters of course, but I am one of those people who you either hook or you don’t. If I’m not engaged in the first chapter, I put it down. The same goes for the first episode of TV shows and the first chapter of manga etc.
I’ve read a bit of crime before and the only thing that I can say is that I often don’t like the main character (who is usually a man), usually finding them annoying and immature, almost childish in a way. I imagine that this must be a trope? Or I’ve just read crime novels that are too similar. I find that I enjoy characters who I am invested in, whether I love them or hate them, but I don’t invest in characters that are just a walking-talking stereotype that I’d rather not follow. I haven’t had the same experience with crime TV shows and so perhaps the way they are written just doesn’t transfer well to me.
Broody, white males who smoke or drink, with a complicated romantic relationship because of their personality and are renowned individuals with stains on their history usually created by the killers they seek to capture. Once splendid and now rugged with a traditional cloud of melancholy.
I don’t care for it.
It becomes difficult and the broodiness comes off more like a whining child. But I think the point is that they’re not meant to garner sympathy? But then that makes it seem like we’re meant to anyway: “look at me my life is miserable, don’t be sad for me but be sad for me”. But I might just be looking into it too closely with an individually formed preconception because of the life I have lived. Or maybe it’s because it’s so stereotypical of ‘detective’ that I’m just not moved by it. I’m not at all saying that it cannot be a realistic representation of a detective, I just feel like I’m reading a scripted character (yes, I know how ironic that sounds) with nothing refreshing for me to hold on to.
Alternatively, the female lead characters I’ve read often have an inflated sense of feminism, which I can’t tell if its because they’re forced female characters for the sake of appealing to a different audience or if just come off like that because it’s relatively new. This is usually portrayed with incredibly stubborn independence (which does make sense in terms of being required for a female to have to carve themselves in a world of ‘men’) and a strange dynamic with their male counterparts, deliberately tense where there is a power struggle, whether it be with their equals, superiors or lovers. I once read a crime novel where I somewhat admired the main character, a female detective who was clever, driven, independent and still a normal person with normal relationships. And then she bounced from one love interested to the other, suddenly becoming a ‘damsel’ for a large portion of the latter novel. There was nothing wrong with her needing to rely on others for a bit, but it didn’t feel like it ever returned to her original character. She remained swayed by her romances and I wondered if it was really a crime novel or a romance novel dressed up with a coat, glasses and moustache.
Now, it sounds like I’m damning A Song for the Dead before I’ve even made it halfway but I thought it would be important to discuss what kind of expectations I have and what preconceptions that I have of character stereotypes and my attitudes towards them. I wonder if my love for crime TV shows has damaged my ability to read crime novels, although it isn’t as if I haven’t enjoyed crime novels, I’ve just found more often than not these kinds of stereotypes make the books stale. Most of them still carry interesting plots and I’m invested in the actual crime part of the novel, but I have to read through the central character to get to that.
I think I’ll make it a small goal to read greatly recommended crime novels, much of what I’ve read having been ‘commercial fiction’ and so that may very well be why I have these ideas about the genre. For one of my units, we were to read The Dry which I couldn’t because I felt like I was opening the book of the same character I’d read a thousand times. I couldn’t get past the first chapter (and I was told the ending was strangely disappointing and so I didn’t bother continuing). Kathy Reichs and PD James are amongst authors of crime fiction I enjoyed. I also like The Whisper Man, written by Alex North, but I had problems with the main character for the above reasons. It was the character of his son that kept my interest. I had no investment in the main character.
Remember that everything up on here is my opinion and I’ll see if my perception of the book changes at all in the next few weeks. I’m also going to take a deeper look at how I see characters in the crime novels I’ve written, but this post basically sums up my initial thoughts and feelings on the matter.
Happy reading!
