Diversity in Literature is a big buzzword phrase nowadays, as well it should be. Society as a whole has come to the conclusion that diversity is good, and whitewashing is bad. Representation matters. A lot of times the argument for diversity is played out in terms of jobs, schooling, and movies/TV shows. There have been a lot of newer TV shows and movies that have brought the idea of representation to the forefront (looking at you Always Be My Maybe by Netflix), but sometimes we forget to talk about representation in books too. After all, you can use your imagination and make the characters in books look like whatever you want them to look like in your head right? To some extent, yes (depending on whether or not the author puts a lot of effort into describing his/her/their characters). But then you also get those rather disturbing arguments about how Hermione Granger is/isn't black. And you realize that unless it is explicitly stated that a character is/isn't a specific race/ethnicity you'll get jerks saying that it doesn't matter what you imagine in your head, the representation isn't there. So it's actually still pretty important for representation to be clearly, irrevocably, stated by the authors, even if descriptions are relatively open-ended. This is especially true in certain genres, such as romance.
I love romance novels. I've read a lot of romance novels in many genres and will likely continue reading them throughout my life. But sometimes there's a representation problem. For example, a lot of historical romances are about white, hetero-normative, neuro-normative, usually skinny/muscular, Christian heroines/heroes. This is one reason why I'm writing a historical novel with a Jewish heroine. I want to see myself represented in the books I love to read. If you look at contemporary romances or paranormal romances there's a bit more variety usually. But it can still be difficult to find books that aren't hetero-normative, neuro-normative, and full of skinny/muscular forms of beauty. There are also a lot of white people. Thankfully for the genre, a lot of new authors are writing books that increase representation. Helen Hoang is one of them. I haven't read very many romances that are about Asian characters. I also haven't read very many romances about non-neuro-normative people, though they are out there and can be quite good. This is one reason I loved Helen Hoang's novel The Kiss Quotient. I'm currently reading the second novel she wrote, The Bride Test, and it's holding up very well too but I'm focusing on The Kiss Quotient in this post. Without giving too much away, The Kiss Quotient is the story of Stella, a thirty year old woman with Asperger's, a syndrome on the Autism spectrum, and Michael, an escort who is part Vietnamese (his mother is Vietnamese and his father is of Swedish origin and is all around a bad person). They meet when Stella hires Michael to teach her how to become proficient at sex. Stella's experiences so far have been lackluster to say the least, and horrific if we're being accurate. She thinks she needs practice, because she wants to have a relationship, she just doesn't know how to get there without thinking of pilot fish cleaning a sharks teeth when she's French kissing. So she hires a professional. Michael has a lot on his shoulders. He hates escorting but has to do it to help his family pay the bills. But he likes Stella, and he can't afford to turn down the offer she gives him in order to help her. So he agrees to help her through the lesson plans she's created and then let her go to find the man she wants. But things get sticky. I'll leave the synopsis at that, but suffice to say, this was a super fun read and I loved it. Helen Hoang is funny. I laughed out loud so many times. But she's also real. In both The Kiss Quotient and The Bride Test there are times when I had a sort of epiphany. I'm white, which means that try as I might I won't ever really understand exactly what it is that minorities go through. I'm also neuro-normative (at least I think I am, I've never gotten tested), so I will never understand exactly what it is that non-neuro-normative people go through. How they have to deal with overstimulation, or obsessions, or compulsions, etc. But Helen Hoang brought those experiences to me through her writing. I won't ever understand exactly what it would be like, but I have a better understanding of it now than I did before. And I still got to enjoy a fun, sexy, hilarious book about love and all the issues that come with it. In short, read The Kiss Quotient. Then read The Bride Test. Then read The Heart Principle. And start adding books with diverse characters into your repertoire. It's worth it, and it will help make the world a better place. (And if you need help finding some, just ask me; I'm always willing to give out book recommendations). Happy Reading!
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AuthorThe author is a librarian who reads "too much" (is there such a thing?) and talks just as much. As an aspiring author she gets bogged down by grammar rules when she just wants to forget them to make a sentence flow, but never seems to be able to. She appreciates thoughtful comments and constructive criticism, but internet trolls beware, she's read enough fantasy novels to know how to defeat the monsters. Archives
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