#augustphotochallenge It's been a busy day and ever since I briefly opened Litsy this morning I've been pondering...#favefemalecharacters. I started a list of one for every age/phase of womanhood and realized I was drawing a blank right in the middle. I couldn't think of a rep for the years many women are holding together families, careers, marriages...maybe I've avoided stories that hit to close to home? Help me out, littens. Who am I missing??
KVanRead @TheSpinecrackersBookClub 9y
BookishFeminist What age range specifically? I can often think of books but maybe not specific characters for the motherhood/family/career phase- Fates & Furies and Hausfrau come to mind![[tagged book]](https://image.librarything.com/pics/litsy_webpics/icon_taggedBook@3x.png)
Hausfrau: A Novel 9y
Hausfrau: A NovelZelma I think a lot of these titles end up falling under the dreaded genre a Chick Lit or a Women's Lit. I can think of a bunch of titles, including I Don't Know How She Does It, Having Her Cake and Eating It, Leave Me (which I recently reviewed). 9y
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KVanRead @BookishFeminist My list goes something like this: Anne Shirley, Hermione Granger, Lucy Honeychurch, Lizbeth Salander, Bridget Jones, HUGE GAP, Rebecca in Still Life With Bread Crumbs, Renée Michel in The Elegance of the Hedgehog. I think I have a huge gap because so many female character stories have ended with the happily ever after and many that haven't, like Karenina and Bovary are MESSED UP!!! 9y
Marchpane @KVanRead @BookishFeminist @Zelma I agree it's not easy to find good examples, plus that trend for female characters in that age range to be deeply flawed has been revived recently (eg Amy Dunne in Gone Girl). Some good ones that I can think of are Holly Sykes from The Bone Clocks, Jake from All the Birds Singing and Tallula from the Last Werewolf trilogy. 9y
KVanRead @Zelma I think you're right. I read I Don't Know How She Does It and while I found it funny and could definitely relate, I really disliked the female protagonist.There ate probably lots out there, just none that I can 'favorite' 9y
KVanRead @Zelma Thanks for the other titles. I will check them out. 9y
BookishFeminist @Marchpane @KVanRead I agree with @Zelma that I sadly think so many female characters in this age range/life stage fall under the "genre" of women's lit. ? but also I don't need my characters to have a happy ending in their story arc or for them to not have deep flaws as people in order to love them as characters bc it's more realistic IMO (in fact the ones I love the most often tend to be hated) but that's my personal preference for sure 9y
KVanRead @Marchpane As @BookishFeminist knows I wholeheartedly second your sentiments re: Amy Dunne, but can't believe I forgot Holly — while I didn't love everything about Bone Clocks, Holly is a great character, both very real and strong. Thank you for reminding me! And I will check out those others too! 9y
Marchpane @BookishFeminist I also prefer more colourful characters who are nowhere near perfect. But it's interesting that the stages of life for characters so often are: 1) is plucky & idealistic young girl; 2) is MESSED up; 3) is adorable elderly Miss Marple type. 🙄 9y
BookishFeminist @Marchpane ?? so true! And also I feel like we get fewer middle aged female characters that play major roles in books. I wonder if writers are more likely to write about their own age group & life stage? And maybe during this stage of their lives women writers don't have as much time? That's a horrible generalization but ? I just think it's the "uninteresting" part of life for some many folks even if it's anything but so not written as much 9y
Sue I love this question but have no answers. I need to ponder ... 9y
cariashley @BookishFeminist @Marchpane @Zelma @KVanRead It's genre, but what immediately jumped to my mind as an example is Mulaghesh in the second Divine Cities series by Robert Jackson Bennett. She's a late middle aged, single, one-armed ex military judge who does some reluctant but serious ass kicking. If that's not intriguing I'm not sure what is (it's also just an incredible fantasy series).City of Blades 9y
City of Bladescariashley @BookishFeminist @Marchpane @Zelma @KVanRead I just re-read the original post and realize the above is NOT an example of what you were looking for. Ha!! I just woke up. Hope you enjoy my atypical female character recommendation regardless. 😂 9y
BookishFeminist @cariashley 😂😂😂 who needs comment threads? LOL That book has been sitting on my shelf! I'll have to push it up my TBR 9y
ValerieAndBooks Thought-provoking post and thread! I'm at that stage of life myself, and after racking my brains, right now the only character I can think of is Molly Weasley from the HP books!!! 9y
KVanRead @Marchpane Dead on! 3) definitely seems to bring more philosophical women. I like the books with complex and messed up characters, but while I like their stories, I often find it hard to like them. @BookishFeminist I had that same thought, maybe women are too damn busy to write about that phase and when it's over they just want to forget it! I for one have found that child rearing can really suck the creativity right out of you!😂 9y
KVanRead @ValerieAndBooks I thought of Molly Weasely too after seeing her pop up in other posts. Maybe JK needs to give a side story on her❤️ 9y
KVanRead @cariashley Finding characters in late middle age does seem easier, but she still sounds crazy awesome! Thanks for the tip. 9y
KVanRead @Sue It's really hard, isn't it? Would love to know if you think of any. 9y
HeatherBookNerd @KVanRead what about Marmee in Little Women? 9y
KVanRead @HeatherBookNerd Yes, Marmee is wonderful but kind of in the background. It's the protagonists that seem to be thin on the ground. 9y
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