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Post by cnu5000 on Oct 10, 2008 6:24:27 GMT -5
I like to read and while the novels I read are not per se romances I notice that often times the new love story is:
1) man and woman meet 2) man and woman have casual sex 3) this casual sex leads to pregnancy 4) man and woman love baby 5) man and woman fall in love. 6) sometimes if they don't fall in love the woman is happy being a single mother.
Anyone else notice this trend in modern love stories?
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Post by midoria on Oct 10, 2008 10:20:46 GMT -5
I dunno. I hate romance. The last book I read that had some romance in it killed the lover mid-book and the woman at the end. She had a kid but she didn't know it (she was insane at the time and doesn't remember anything that happened for a whole year).
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Post by preraph on Oct 10, 2008 10:42:34 GMT -5
I haven't read a romance in a long time, but now I'm glad if that is the trend! Nauseating.
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Post by happy2bchildfree on Oct 10, 2008 13:06:09 GMT -5
I generally don't read romances, but ditto what has already been said--if that's the trend, I will avoid them for sure. Ick.
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Post by accumbens on Oct 11, 2008 12:36:46 GMT -5
try "Of Human Bondage" by W. Somerset Maugham
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Post by Tabetha on Oct 12, 2008 2:29:24 GMT -5
try "Of Human Bondage" by W. Somerset Maugham Of Human Bondage (and The Painted Veil, also by Maugham) are certainly 2 excellent modern books that don't exalt parenthood (or romantic love, for that matter). Dark and wonderful books, but definitely not for anyone looking for lighthearted, escapist reading.
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Post by cnu5000 on Oct 15, 2008 6:30:08 GMT -5
Actually, I was thinking of books written after maybe 2000. I also notice a variation where if the woman gets pregnant by mistake a new boyfriend falls in love with the woman. He finds her being pregnant/having a child attractive. He does not mind being a father/raising a child nor feel jealous that the woman had a relatively recent sexual relationship with another man.
I remember when we where child the chant "first comes love, than comes marriage than comes blank with a baby carriage". This seems so old fashioned. The new order seems baby-love-marriage.
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Post by whalehugger on Oct 16, 2008 7:48:01 GMT -5
I think it depends on what type of romance books you're reading. I enjoy the paranormal books and though there are sometimes a story or two where the couple aren't careful and the gal gets preggers, it's not a major plot point (at least in the books that I've read). I've noticed that something is said about needing protection and a condom being sexily put on. In the book I just read by Marjorie Liu, the heroine hoped that her BC was working properly. Now the characters may think about wanting kids or do want kids, but a lot of the stories do show some care being taken on birth control.
I'm still waiting for the completely CF romance story to come along. Hopefully I'll get to see it in my lifetime <G>
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Post by preraph on Oct 16, 2008 16:08:28 GMT -5
Romance novels of the last 50 years are geared toward giving a woman what she wants and doesn't always get from men, which incorporates a lot of fairytale qualities. So it isn't surprising that it's popular to pretend men find women newly knocked up and exploding with child something women want to hear. Because that's the ONLY place they're going to hear it.
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Post by cnu5000 on Oct 20, 2008 6:22:33 GMT -5
Some of writers I these writers I am refering to are not "Romantic" writers per se(i.e. John Irving, Margaret Atwood, Gish Jen, Jodi Pocult).
However, perhaps with so many single mothers now writers are trying to cater to them and say a man won't find that they have had a child by another man a liability which I have heard is not true in reality.
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Post by accumbens on Oct 26, 2008 13:33:33 GMT -5
I just finished "Revolutionary Road" by Richard Yates, a story of dysfunctional romance set in the 50s. The movie will be coming out in December, and with DiCaprio/Winslet, will probably be up for several Oscars and nationwide discussion of its major themes (middle-class suburban angst and an unfulfilling parenthood).
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Post by cnu5000 on Oct 27, 2008 6:20:57 GMT -5
I think alot of books written in and about the 1950s give a much more unhappy account of parenting.
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Post by iluvbooks on Oct 27, 2008 17:04:17 GMT -5
Actually, I was thinking of books written after maybe 2000. I also notice a variation where if the woman gets pregnant by mistake a new boyfriend falls in love with the woman. He finds her being pregnant/having a child attractive. He does not mind being a father/raising a child nor feel jealous that the woman had a relatively recent sexual relationship with another man. I remember when we where child the chant "first comes love, than comes marriage than comes blank with a baby carriage". This seems so old fashioned. The new order seems baby-love-marriage. For me, it's "first comes love, then comes marriage, but no Veronica with a baby carriage".
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Post by cnu5000 on Oct 30, 2008 6:25:43 GMT -5
Even when I was a child a wondered about the baby carriage. I remember growing up thinking most people regret the shotgun marriage.
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Post by happy2bchildfree on Oct 30, 2008 10:45:03 GMT -5
Even when I was a child a wondered about the baby carriage. I remember growing up thinking most people regret the shotgun marriage. I've always wondered how many of these marriages are even reasonably happy, or last beyond a few years, considering that they probably wouldn't have taken place otherwise.
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Post by cnu5000 on Oct 31, 2008 6:16:51 GMT -5
I also thought most of the time people regret them. Also I have heard even when it is planned it is stressful having a baby just after marriage and many couples regret it.
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