Day 275: Lament

Lament by Maggie Stiefvater.  ISBN: 9780738713700.

Oh boy, more relationship fucked-uppery.  I get to dissect yet another wrongheaded idea about relationships.  Why are these all written by women? Why do some of the worst examples of relationships come from young women?  This is just one of the things I had issue with in Lament.  It's kind of a biggie though.

Luke is talking to Deirdre and she mentions that James (her best friend) is jealous.  Luke's response is that James had "plenty of chances, he blew it" and something along the lines of 'I love you more, anyway.'

I'm sorry, I take offense to that. Afterall, James is the one who has behaved like a gentleman throughout this entire book.  Just because James didn't tell Deirdre he loved her within the first week of meeting her, does not mean that he doesn't love her or that he loves her less than Luke.  All it means is that James actually took time to develop a relationship with Deirdre, rather than rushing her into doing anything physical and getting hormones confused with emotions.

And for teenagers there are many reasons not to reveal affections.  Might it be possible that James didn't want to tell Deirdre because he preferred to maintain their friendship over having a "chance" at being in a romantic relationship with her?  Gee, which of these two guys sounds more mature?  And why is the more mature one sneered at by the older (granted soulless) guy?  I'm sure Luke didn't do a whole lot of dating while doing the bidding of his fairy mistress, but you would think he would learn something through observation at least.

I'm sort of confused as to why Deirdre didn't at least stick up for her friend James when all that sneering was going on.  I think if it was one of my male friends who liked me I would at least remind Luke that my James had some obvious good qualities or else I wouldn't have spent the last five years or so being his friend.  Just brushing off that kind of relationship as no threat just because Deirdre didn't have any romantic interest in James at the moment is prototypical asshole behavior.  It's like saying, "I'm so hot, I can just pop into your life and within a week you will be crawling on your knees and years of friendship cannot compete with my hot, studly body."

I am not saying all of this because I want Deirdre to end up with James.  I think that would be a better relationship for her.  It would be the mature relationship, but Deirdre is obviously not ready for a mature relationship.  Unfortunately she is so immature that she doesn't realize she is playing at a love that will get her hurt.  If I could stand the characters in this story I would consider reading on just to see if I'm proven right.  Unfortunately I feel I've already tortured myself enough.  If someone who's read it already wants to email me the end result of the second book, go ahead.

Honestly, I don't have a problem with stuff like this being written.  I do think there is a problem with not at least addressing some of the issues involved in the kind of relationships presented by these teenage love triangles.  I am going to cringe for saying thing, but for this very reason I think it might actually be a good idea to teach Twilight in schools.  If you open up the discussion about the wrong behavior in these relationships we might get some very intelligent and relationship savvy young women.  Also, copy editing these works might be an enjoyable task for high school students as opposed to the typical grammar exercises.

My review can be found at Goodreads.  I also found Donna's review at Bites to be pretty accurate.
LibsNote: I received a free copy of this book from a publisher's booth at ALA 2010.  Yes, I am still reading through that stack of books.  Also, my fiance wants it noted for the record that the juxtaposition of the knife blade with the title makes it look like "LAME NT".  I kind of have to agree with that assessment, and would do so regardless of whether or not I liked the book.

Day 274: Lament

Lament by Maggie Stiefvater.  ISBN: 9780738713700.

I got quite a shock from this book, one that I expect I will receive in person someday.  I don't expect to stay in Ohio for the rest of my life, or even in the next five years, so there is a possibility I will have to be exposed to that most horrible of things: fairy minions that want to date me smoking in restaurants.  Yeah, this is set in Virginia, and along with a few other states in the US, they still allow smoking in restaurants apparently (something I tend to forget).

Of all the things that Ohio has done right, banning smoking in bars, restaurants, and hospitals is at the top of the list.  I actually remember this going into effect and being SO FREAKING EXCITED that I could actually sit in a bar a drink a microbrew without worrying about how long it would be before I started having minor breathing problems and had to go home.  And the idea of eating around secondhand smoke is entirely unappealing to me.  This has become true the longer I have been away from my father.

You see, I have a bit of a past with secondhand smoke.  My father smokes cigarettes and was the only adult in my family that smoked around me.  One of the things that made it easier for me not to pick up smoking was the discomfort it always seemed to cause him.  He never looked relaxed when he was smoking, which was so at odds with the cigarette commercials that came on TV at the time.

By the time my parents were separated I was thoroughly addicted to secondhand smoke.  It got so bad that when my father started spending less time at the house I would stare at the pack of cigarettes he left on the table and think about smoking one.  I wanted a cigarette even though I had no desire to become a smoker.  I could even taste it and feel it on my lips.  I had dreams about smoking.  I even had withdrawal symptoms, mostly headaches and dry mouth.  There were times I actually had to go out with smokers and hang around them so my headaches would go away.

I was thirteen when my father left the house.  Ten years later, I am now disgusted by the thought of even being near someone while they smoke.  Sometimes the smell of cigarette smoke on someone's clothes will make me gag.  It still surprises me to see so many people my age and younger who are smoking.  I do believe that taking it out of restaurants is a positive step on our country's health.  There is no reason to expose a large number of people to that kind of thing, and if people really need their after dinner cigarette they can always go out to their cars and smoke.  In the meantime, it means kids see it less often and it is hopefully becoming more abnormal than normal. 

I think it's rather a positive thing that I had to pause while reading Luke's request for the non-smoking section, because even if smoking isn't disappearing, at least its public presence and acceptability is.

My review can be found at Goodreads.  I also found Donna's review at Bites to be pretty accurate.
LibsNote: I received a free copy of this book from a publisher's booth at ALA 2010.  Yes, I am still reading through that stack of books.  Also, my fiance wants it noted for the record that the juxtaposition of the knife blade with the title makes it look like "LAME NT".  I kind of have to agree with that assessment, and would do so regardless of whether or not I liked the book.