I just watched "The Reader" today. It brought to mind a complaint that I have had for a while concerning female characters in novels.
Recently I have read and/or watched novels and films written by men that have strong, relatable, imperfect women among the characters. Firstly, there is "The Reader", written by a German lawyer about a boy who falls in love with an older woman only to later find out that she was a member of the SS and had previously committed terrible crimes against humanity. This woman should be a completely unsympathetic character but she is so believable and human that you cannot help feeling conflicted about her. I was stunned by her when I read the novel a few years ago. In the film she is played bye Kate Winslet (arguably the greatest actress of her generation) who does a great job. She rightfully won the oscar for that performance.
Another example is "The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo". Lisbeth Salander is the life-blood of the series. She is complex and unapologetic. It is she who comes to the rescue of the "hero" in the first book not the other way around.
These are just two examples I came up with off the top of my head. Admittedly, I don't read a whole lot by women, but the stuff that I do read comes across quite hollow. It seems that female authors try to write women the way they would like to be. Prettier, thinner, richer, etc. I cannot think of the last modern novel I read with a respectable heroine written by a woman.
It seems to me that the best women written, are written by men. I would love for someone to prove me wrong.
I have the same problem with many of the female characters in books that I read. I can name two exceptions. The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Society written by two women whose names I do not know and The Secret Lives of Bees by Sue Monk Kidd. Sadly, I feel she failed with the main character in The Mermaid's Chair.
ReplyDeleteI have read both of those but I think it is notable that in the first case, the book was set in England post WWII, not in the U.S. and in the second case, the strong women we all African-American. Neither was set in modern times or even written in the time they were set.
ReplyDeleteI do agree that both were good and I liked the female characters.
Maybe there is just a dearth of strong, white, American Women in modern literature overall regardless of the sex of the author.
ReplyDeleteHow about Katniss Everdeen? She's the anti-Bella, and I loved her character so much for that reason. Smart, resourceful, doubts herself sometimes but does what she needs to do to survive. She's "imperfect", though, in that she's still a bit selfish--even when she places someone else's survival ahead of her own, she's doing it for her own reasons, and sometimes against that person's wishes.
ReplyDeleteGood call on Katniss. I'd also nominate Alice Sebold from "Lucky" by Alice Sebold (memoir). She was brutally raped in college and the story is about her journey to overcome this and not make it the defining point in her life. I haven't read this since college, but I seem to remember admiring her (well, not for the rape.) Other examples that come to mind of women writing "imperfect" women main characters with which the reader is meant to sympathize are Astrid from "White Oleander" by Janet Fitch and Sethe from "Beloved" by Toni Morrison, though I dont think I'd call either of them "heroines."
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