« What have you been up to at work lately, Courtney? | Main | August 30, 2008: Camping »
April 25, 2008
A wicked woman
I finished reading "Wicked" around 12:30 a.m. last night/early this morning, after falling under the book's spell for the better part of a week. I wrote up a little review over here. Rian sent it to me as a birthday present, and it was an awesome and perfectly-timed gift. I needed a fast, smart, entertaining and thought-provoking dash of fiction.
I have read a lot of books, but not enough with smart, interesting women who have better things to do with their lives than moon over men and children. The Wicked Witch of the West, star of "Wicked" has deep moral questions to explore, people to protect, a resistance to join. She's not immune to romance, but it's not the center of her life. Drop the "s" from the "she," and I don't these traits would be so atypical. It's a bit sad that most of the female protagonists I've gotten to know have been so limited as human beings. Maybe I need to do something about that.
Posted by Courtney_Sherwood at April 25, 2008 11:35 PM
Comments
I was thinking about the whole strong female protagonist thing...
In the Alienist the only female character is secondary, but she kicks butt and doesn't get romantically involved with any of the men or have children. In the sequel she's even better.
And the narrator of She's Come Undone is also female...who overcomes a good deal in her life. She does wind up with marriage and children... but after a good deal of 'other stuff.'(One of the reasons I do like this book is that it is written by a man). I've read and reread all 3 books a number of times.
I went to my bookcase and looked at the other books that I love. A good number of them, at least the Post 1990s ones also fit this description. I'd never thought about this before.
Interesting observation.
Posted by: Rian at April 27, 2008 09:59 PM