Brandywine Books has a comment on how the whole "dragons are really good, just misunderstood" theme has been done to death. Which makes me think that there must be other supposed "twists" that have long since ceased to be twisty and have just become dull. The "spunky-girl-rebelling-against-female-stereotypes" comes to mind. What are your nominees for "twists" that have long passed their sell-by date?
Thanks to the way our brains transfer the difficulty of completing a task to the underlying subject matter, it is just as boosting to one's confidence on taking an exam to think of a few reasons why one will pass, or many, many reasons why one will fail. (After all, if it's hard to come up with so many reasons against it--it must not be so likely after all.) Similarly, spouses have greater marital satisfaction after thinking of a few reasons why they like their spouse, or a whole lot of reasons why they don't. That ought to make for some fun marital counseling sessions. So, to DOB: I'm sure I'd have a hard time coming up with twenty things I didn't like about you.
3 comments:
The prostitute with the heart of gold is a clear choice, and related to that is the criminal or person in any immoral profession who has more integrity or moral fiber than the common man or more likely the pastor.
Corporate greed as the root of all kinds of evil.
Believing in yourself is the highest virtue.
Yes, it makes a book like *Gilead* a bit of a shocker--an elderly, respected pastor with integrity AND goodwill. Astounding plot twist!
I came up with one! And forgot it! Um. Oh, yes: the beautiful, socially-ambitious mother who forces her plain, awkward daughter to make a dazzling marriage. (Be assured that if you're a great beauty, you WILL have a plain daughter.)
Also, the woman who marries and *wants* to have a child will inevitably suffer miscarriage and probably infertility.
I liked *Gilead* very much.
-- SJ
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