Sometimes in the reading life, you just get to a point where you're reading a series of incredibly unlike things. My currently reading this reflects a fantasy Western, faux-Victorian travelogue, a British librarian comedy/mystery, and fantasy horror. Maybe unlike topics are not my problem so much as genres in general. Either way, right now I'll be ranting about The Walking Dead: Volume 4 comic and the clash of values in A Natural History of Dragons. Both with a generous amount of love and a possible aside into Sherlock Holmes.
First, The Walking Dead comic, or as this issue is called, "The Heart's Desire". I'm slowly working my way through the series, and I know it's terribly outdated, but it's finally old enough that I can get it from the library without waiting six months. This issue is the best of the ones I have read so far--four out of twenty one or so. I really enjoyed Rick's development as a character and the introduction of Michonne, an element of chaos on top of the already-nutso world of the zombie apocalypse. I was noting that I had read the issue on GoodReads, mainly because I enjoy seeing my personal reading stats and reading what other people had to say about the work. Almost invariably, the top reviews are negative, and the occasional positive review is hidden in the middle of the pack.
It was no different for "The Heart's Desire". I'm struggling to write it off as the negative opinion of the Internet and possible trolls. The comic is genuinely written well--the dialogue sparks, the drawings vivid, and the plot is building to where the reader can feel the ground shaking from all of the suspense. The various accusations included how the female characters are shallow and seemed to think only of sex. I think the detail that's being overlooked here is that all of the characters are two-dimensional and feel symbolic. Notice how they represent various stereotypes, and how those stereotypes are invariably inverted in an interesting and fun manner. The only well-developed character is Rick, and as a reader, I'm fine with that. The graphic novel as a medium is suited to have one fully realized protagonist and part of the fun is recognizing when characters subvert their stereotypes.
I don't watch the show, which I believe may have surpassed this issue. I'm not suggesting my opinion is anymore correct than theirs, but I'm missing the point of the masochistic negative review on GoodReads. I don't mind being critical, but sometimes one of the more innocuous Internet communities can get fairly bloodthirsty. I loved the recognition that as much as the group is trying to maintain order, in a chaotic world that's usually impossible--that revelation was accompanied by a dark mood akin to, "Shit is getting ready to get real." I'm taking a break from the series because of the unfortunate wait at the library, but my thoughts about it are still following me around after two days.
Next, A Natural History of Dragons! My reading of this did take a decidedly negative turn, mainly in the way I hated how the protagonist looked down upon people who she considered to be her social inferiors. It's prejudice so deeply entrenched that she didn't recognize it in herself, even though it kept coming up, which made for some awkward interior monologue. The main character talked down to servants mostly, bullying one into taking her on a hunt for a dragon, then another by almost flat-out refusing to communicate. Isabella's relationship with her second named servant, her lady's maid Dagmira, was more interesting because Dagmira popped up on almost every page. The setting of the story is an alternate Victorian world, which had all of the fun of the wealth of knowledge being discovered that was kept in check by all of the moral stuffiness. I guess Isabella's attitude towards Dagmira was supposed to mirror that of Social Darwinism, but I don't know why we couldn't have left that unsavory bit of history out of it, or even critiqued it. That's a twenty first-century mentality, but the book itself is from 2013! (The paperback, at least.)
I was puzzled as to why this was bothering me so much, particularly as the book struck me as a fluffy Victorian travelogue. The disdainful/disrespectful attitude towards the lower class was also demonstrated by John Watson in the Holmes stories. Watson always had a thinly veiled disapproval of anyone who worked in a blue collar trade or lower. Sherlock himself embraced people of all classes and walks of life, and many of the stories are about his adventures in gleaning information or studying a case while impersonating someone of a lower class. I think the reason it didn't bother me as much with the Holmes stories is because John's prejudice wasn't featured very often, and maybe because John was a man where Isabella was a woman. Victorian women of the middle and upper classes are usually portrayed sympathetically because of their lack of intellectual mobility, etc., so maybe it was my own perceptions that were going off.
Or maybe I felt that Brennan was going so far into the deep end of Victorian mentality that she lost sight of the fact that Isabella became more and more unlikable as the narrative plodded on. (Other complaints: where are the dragons?! The cover and blurb are incredibly misleading.)
Either way, a fun week of reading. I had a fun discussion based on an article from Book Riot, about how to tell loved ones (spouse) that their favorite book sucks. The gist of the article was not tell them at all if you could, and if you couldn't bring yourself to suffocate your own inner snob, to be as nice as possible about it. The article illicited a huge eyeroll from me, because being tactful is a no-brainer, but I don't think critiquing the book is enough to bring damnation from your loved one. I also checked myself because I realized I would never actually be close to anyone who would be super-sensitive about their one favorite book--I can do friendly, yes, but my friends and family are people who read a lot and wouldn't get butthurt (what would we do without the Internet?) over my not liking their favorite book. I'm not sure my loved ones even have a One True Favorite Book. Mine is Catch-22, because the irreverent and acerbic tone fits my general opinion of favorite books.
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