I have just finished reading Blue Jasmine by Violet Winspear (1969) out of curiosity and all I can say is how on earth did I find the book so mesmerizing when I was a teen? I even recommended the book to my friends and boldly declared that it was the best book ever written. But then again, it was oh, so many years ago and the book I am talking about is one of the books by Mills & Boon, a British publisher of romance novels that left me and millions of others across the globe entranced once upon a time.
The characters are unreal – the heroine has such a small waist that could be easily broken by a strong arm; the hero is usually dark, handsome, rich and hails from a desert or somewhere exotic. The plot is predictable – girl meets boy, girl hates boy, girl goes through turmoil and girl realises she loves boy or vice versa. For example, standing by an oasis hoping to be carried away on a horse by a rich Bedouin, better still the heir to the empire, seems to be part of normalcy. The text is repetitive – lengthy descriptions of the physique, cyclical highs and lows and of course detailed and procedural take of the long and passionate kiss. Yet, such soppy sweetness makes the books successful.
It took me quite a while to read the book although there were only 187 pages., the reason being I could not get past the first chapter and kept dozing off. So I resolved to plough through the book and I finally did it one lazy morning when I refused to get out of bed as it was still raining and it was better to be in the bed room looking out at the rain than to be in the rain looking into the bedroom.
What is real about this genre is that yes there is romance and yes it is fiction; thus making it romance fiction. The growth of romance fiction hit an all time high in the 1930s to meet the growing appetite for escapism during the Depression years. I guess it is great fun to be able to escape into another world when we are younger, especially when we come from all girls’ schools. It is like a world that we carve for ourselves, to read the books in secret if authorities frown upon them and to stretch our imagination where nothing is impossible.
Taken at face value, the books are light entertainment and generally harmless. But some critics have accused the writers for being misogynistic and promote poor sexual health. The more recent books I hear have sub-genres which can be more explicit in their setting and style, but nothing near E.L. James ‘50 shades of grey’, I suspect.
I wonder why people enjoy romance fiction. There is no right or wrong answer. Usually it is for personal enjoyment and because there are perfect endings where true love survives all odds. With all the hard knocks that the world dishes out, it is comforting to have something secure and familiar in the corner, in this case a romance novel. Some people think that romance novels are only for the single and dateless but I do know of some readers who are well into their senior years and are very married.
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Some of us have recently celebrated Valentine’s Day and there was the usual hate it or love it attitude with lots of questions in between. Was it is a money churning day, to prosper some and to make paupers of others? If you love someone, why should you show it only on Valentine’s Day? If you love someone why should you not show it on Valentine’s Day? Would it not be more economical and practical to buy plastic roses instead of fresh ones? Would you be accused of being a miser and a cheapskate if you had bought plastic roses?
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All said and done, love and romance do not have to remain as fiction only.
Like tango partners both should go hand in hand and not flourish independently. I used to see girls putting more effort into the ‘romantic’ part of a relationship but now I see that guys are doing their share too. It is not so much the gender but rather the person – how the person has been brought up and the individual’s temperament that determines how responsible, caring or loving the person is.
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SOURCE: http://www.nst.com.my/opinion/columnist/the-comforting-world-of-romance-novels-1.223723?
I have just finished reading Blue Jasmine by Violet Winspear (1969) out of curiosity and all I can say is how on earth did I find the book so mesmerizing when I was a teen? I even recommended the book to my friends and boldly declared that it was the best book ever written. But then again, it was oh, so many years ago and the book I am talking about is one of the books by Mills & Boon, a British publisher of romance novels that left me and millions of others across the globe entranced once upon a time.
The characters are unreal – the heroine has such a small waist that could be easily broken by a strong arm; the hero is usually dark, handsome, rich and hails from a desert or somewhere exotic. The plot is predictable – girl meets boy, girl hates boy, girl goes through turmoil and girl realises she loves boy or vice versa. For example, standing by an oasis hoping to be carried away on a horse by a rich Bedouin, better still the heir to the empire, seems to be part of normalcy. The text is repetitive – lengthy descriptions of the physique, cyclical highs and lows and of course detailed and procedural take of the long and passionate kiss. Yet, such soppy sweetness makes the books successful.
It took me quite a while to read the book although there were only 187 pages., the reason being I could not get past the first chapter and kept dozing off. So I resolved to plough through the book and I finally did it one lazy morning when I refused to get out of bed as it was still raining and it was better to be in the bed room looking out at the rain than to be in the rain looking into the bedroom.
What is real about this genre is that yes there is romance and yes it is fiction; thus making it romance fiction. The growth of romance fiction hit an all time high in the 1930s to meet the growing appetite for escapism during the Depression years. I guess it is great fun to be able to escape into another world when we are younger, especially when we come from all girls’ schools. It is like a world that we carve for ourselves, to read the books in secret if authorities frown upon them and to stretch our imagination where nothing is impossible.
Taken at face value, the books are light entertainment and generally harmless. But some critics have accused the writers for being misogynistic and promote poor sexual health. The more recent books I hear have sub-genres which can be more explicit in their setting and style, but nothing near E.L. James ‘50 shades of grey’, I suspect.
I wonder why people enjoy romance fiction. There is no right or wrong answer. Usually it is for personal enjoyment and because there are perfect endings where true love survives all odds. With all the hard knocks that the world dishes out, it is comforting to have something secure and familiar in the corner, in this case a romance novel. Some people think that romance novels are only for the single and dateless but I do know of some readers who are well into their senior years and are very married.
.jpg)
Some of us have recently celebrated Valentine’s Day and there was the usual hate it or love it attitude with lots of questions in between. Was it is a money churning day, to prosper some and to make paupers of others? If you love someone, why should you show it only on Valentine’s Day? If you love someone why should you not show it on Valentine’s Day? Would it not be more economical and practical to buy plastic roses instead of fresh ones? Would you be accused of being a miser and a cheapskate if you had bought plastic roses?
.jpg)
All said and done, love and romance do not have to remain as fiction only.
Like tango partners both should go hand in hand and not flourish independently. I used to see girls putting more effort into the ‘romantic’ part of a relationship but now I see that guys are doing their share too. It is not so much the gender but rather the person – how the person has been brought up and the individual’s temperament that determines how responsible, caring or loving the person is.
.jpg)
SOURCE: http://www.nst.com.my/opinion/columnist/the-comforting-world-of-romance-novels-1.223723?
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