Natala la la la ... ... ...

↓ flickr

Thursday, December 18, 2003

new book genre a la bridget jones  

i´ve been reading this somewhat horrible book on my trip..the title is sort of irrelevent because this post really isn´t so much about the book as much as it is about this genre of book. i´´ve recently noticed that the genre has taken over and i´´m not sure what the literary name for it is '-- but essentially these are books about women in their late 20´s early 30´s and their search for love (and of course matrimonial bliss). There´s a ton of these out there (Jemima J, Good in Bed, Is that a Moose in your Pocket, Bookends, Shopaholic)...and my friend is thinking about writing one. here´s my thinking of the core elements of this "genre":
* the main character (i.e. the woman) is in her late 20´s early 30´s and her profile is best described with adjectives like ¨independent¨ or ¨kick'ass¨
* she either lives in london (is british) or in some major metroplis (NYC, LA, SF -- i.e. not chicago) and considers herself a ´city-o-phile´ -- up to date on the latest restaurants and trends (although shes probably too cool to go there)
* wicked or biting sense of humor thats a bit self-depreciating
* recently got out of a serious, long term relationship that needed to be over (because it was boring or stale)
* she has a strong set of social relationships (friends), typically one is gay (with uber good fashion sense) and at least one is some sort of ethnicity (cityophiles are afterall diverse). all are upper-middle classish and educated.
* she has a job, that doesn´t realize her true potential and its usually in PR or some literary field
* somehow she has a pretty decent wardrobe complete with at least one pair of prada shoes or manalo blahniks...and at least one black ¨too die for¨ outfit
* she hasn´t has sex in a while b-c of either a hangup wiht her past love or moping, but she reveals that she has some sort of quirky sex trick that prooves her sexual prowness

there are two sub-blots that also define these books
* life altering change: she eiother decide to move, or quits her job, or loses 100 lbs over night
* major misunderstanding: the key plot occurence is that the man she is eventually going to fall in love with is somehow involved in some sort of misunderstanding, the resolution of which will permit them to fall in love and get to wedded bliss. how this misunderstanding occurs, and how it is resolved, is well, what makes each and every book different ...



¤ posted by Natala : 12/18/2003 02:18:00 PM


Comments: Post a Comment