Casestudy: Misery Fiction

Ill use this as the example:

Based on some of the reviews:

*****

I wanted to like this book, but I have to admit, I was extremely disappointed. In no particular order, these are a few of the reasons I can't support this book:
-For a book that's been praised for its so-called progressive elements, the author seems to have no issue with reinforcing sexist stereotypes (the protagonist, Danielle, claims that she's more emotional after her body's feminizing transformation, and implies women feel emotions more powerfully than men; this is one example, but certainly not the only instance of this).
-The writing is decent, but the plot is basic and clearly secondary.
-This is a book with no characters. Everyone is either a strawman or a mouthpiece. The most blatant example of this is the character Graywytch, which is one of the most disgusting anti-feminist strawman caricatures I've ever seen. This goes so far at some points that it pushes the boundaries of realism; I can't imagine anyone speaking the way this character speaks, especially to a fifteen year old. The author simply seems to have a massive chip on her shoulder and apparently the editor never told her to tone it down.
-Poor handling of topics such as gender, socialization, and privilege.
-The good moments just weren't good enough to outweigh the toxic moments.

We definitely need more books by, for, and about LGBT people, but Dreadnought is not a step forward. I hope someday we have so many diverse books by Own Voices authors that Dreadnought is no longer uncritically praised as an empowering book. It's really not.

*****

Even left leaning people don't want to see the whole package of IRL political issues. Some of them really do want escapism. They still fall back on the X-ism angle for lots of things but like most people who give money for entertainment, they want the entertainment more then a message. Even if they agree with whatever politics you soapbox in your book, only the "I'm with X" crowd will truly praise this book as some sort of masterpiece. It's not supposed to be some critical thinking book or some literary masterpiece, its supposed to be fun. This is only my POV but I think those who gave this book really good reviews just want to be a part of the crowd saying, "See? I'm not like Y! I have feelings towards this important subject." 

 

Just say what you really feel. But in the Era of Cancel Culture, most don't want to say that, hell even when I was in college I kept my head down.  And that was back in the early 2000s. 

 

***** 

Let me preface with the necessary invocation when negatively reviewing a book on such a topic, "I wanted to like this book, but." And now I have invoked the magical phrase, lets get down to the review proper.

This book has an interesting premise, that I can't say is misused, because for it to be misused it would have to in some way material way appear in this book. Instead this book is rather shallow & the plot is not so much a plot as much as a pretext for the misery porn that makes up this collection of interpersonal interactions with bigots.

Seriously, every other character seems to be just a mouth piece for silly straw-man oppositions to the idea of transgender people, a thin character sketch of the assumed stereotypical bigot that appears in this sub genre of misery porn.

At no point is this book in any way enjoyable, at no point does the plot get interesting, nor will you feel yourself sucked in to the narrative, nor is there any real exploration of the setting either in it's superhero aspect, or it's civilian aspect, which is honestly just there as the pretext for the execution of the misery porn.

And lets be clear, both of those aspects have been done with the concept of "oops I changed gender" in narrative media before & they've all managed to still be to some degree, entertaining.

But here's the thing, this book isn't meant to be entertaining to real people, it does what all misery porn does, it's message fiction, which exists to preach to the choir of people who self describe as "Woke." This book exists to tell them that "you don't believe these strawman arguments I've put in the mouth of the bigoted people, hence you are morally superior to people who don't agree with us."

 

*****

 

This review is pretty on point, esp from what I saw of the sample. Even Alphabet Soup Needs something Uplifting. Which even this other reviewer points out. Thing is, no one finds this book really engaging unless they are people looking for points for their political POV.

*****

I wanted to like this book. I'm a trans woman and I wanted to root for the hometeam here, but I couldn't recommend this book to my friends. The author spends way too much time detailing the torture Danny is put through by the cis people around her. Yes it's realistic that cis people can be that awful but is realism what you want in a superhero book? Is it realistic that Danny is the one-and-only trans character in the entire book? The city New Port City is based on has a thriving youthful trans community which is absent from this book. It just felt like misery-tourism for the amusement of cis readers. Super heroes are supposed to inspire but I feel like this book would have sent me deeper into the closet if I had read it as a teenager.

Also the writing is bad. It starts off mediocre but after the halfway point it goes downhill. The climactic battle should have been exciting but it was just boring. The final chapter left me saying to myself "what did I just read? Why would that character do that? When was THAT ever mentioned. Is that an editing mistake?"

TLDR The worst transgender super hero fiction I have ever read. Only get it if you're really desperate for novels written by trans women. I did enjoy the first half.

 

*****

So why even go through some of these reviews: All the Critical reviews vs All the Positive . In case people wanted to see the divide. I personally think the 3 and lower stars are more on point about this book.

• No one really likes this stuff. They just pretend to find the Misery Message Fiction "interesting."
• When it comes to the Superhero Genre, far too many books concentrate on the Watchmen/The Boys side of things. Misery for Misery's sake. Again, this is all my opinion, make of it what you will. The world and writers in general have lost that optimistic spark. There are still hold outs, here and there, with dreams of a better tomorrow. But its harder to find in indies or trad pub. It's why when I do find some series that go for a more hopeful bent I cling to it like a seagull with a french fry.
• Actually, the whole angle of "coming out or getting antagonized by x y or z strawman" in gay or lesbian fiction is the standard for many of these "fantastical" stories. Even if they are sci fi or fantasy based. I can count on one hand how many stories with a Gay, Lesbian or Bi Protagonist is just there to have an adventure without any "current year" baggage. IE: oh the parents disown the protag, or their friends turn on them, or This Character hates them because of who they sleep with. If these writers cant even let fictional characters escape this cesspool then what the hell can throw them out of it? 

Oh and if you are wondering which books are what I'd term: Rainbow without the Current Year Misery Baggage/Message Fiction....mostly these books:

•  Aeon 14 
• Cooper really does have all sorts in Aeon. I am entertained by the characters and the situations they are thrown in. But man oh man, did Katrina get thrown into the deep end. This is one series wherein the writer throws the whole sink at people. But unlike things like GOT, Cooper remembers to bring the Sun in. IE Hope. Tanis and Joe, along with the rest of their motley crew are def. favorites.
• Romancing the Inventor *When a Victorian Style Lesbian Romance novella is more or less heartwarming compared to current year misery fiction, you know you done fracked up.
• Nightrunners For the most part. There's some lowkey stuff that kinda reminded me of "oh great, please dont use them for that." but then the troubles created by the setting itself was more in the forefront. IE: Magic and Antagonists threatening the whole setting was much more paramount then preaching. Even if her blog and other things indicate otherwise, she really does prioritize story over soapbox. In her books at least. Tamir Triad is pretty good too. Much more interesting story of girl hidden as a boy via magic then the cape story above. Makes you realize just how kids are primed to be influenced to things. Which is why I am not going to give age inappropriate stuff to my niece and nephews. Again, my parents didn't let me start reading more mature stuff til I hit highschool/16+ and even then I didnt understand some things until I re-read it in my 20s.
• The Shadow Campaigns

Seriously, when I was still kinda active on goodreads, so many people were like, "Why doesnt this have more representation?" There's no way you can get someone or someone to represent you to a tee. Find books that prioritize characters. Who just happen to have X Y or Z in their background. I'd rather have a fully realized character then a cardboard cutout with one trait mannerisms. Hell, Babylon 5 was paving the way with this with Ivanova well before. I love Ivanova, she has the worst romantic luck but she's a fully realized character. You want a kick ass bisexual character, there she is! That's the difference between something that's lipservice like Dreadnought vs actual character arcs and development. 

You want to see better representation or something more entertaining, dont give misery fiction or message fiction money. Find things that you can enjoy. Because everyone needs to escape the mundane for a while. Even if they are left or right.