Why people like it

[easol.livejournal.com]

One of the recent posts got me thinking: we all know why people snark the AB series, but why do you think people LIKE it? You know, troos and such, or just the nameless faceless masses who read the books, but don't go online to talk about it?

Is it the copious sex scenes, or the supposedly sexy undead men, or what?

Personally, I suspect that it comes from proxy-Sueing -- it allows the readers to pretend that THEY are Anita, much as LKH does. They can fantasize for a few hours about being the oh-so-tough and sexually irresistible heroine who can say and do anything and get away with it. (Which is also why so much bad Sue fanfiction still gets an audience)

Whaddaya think?

Comments

[duchym.livejournal.com]

I recently read a really good urban fantasy novel called Magic Bites by Ilona Andrews. Great setting, interesting characters, and a good plot with a lot of twists.

I looked up the reviews on Amazon. There was only one review with a one star rating. That reader complained that the book was too dense for her, and that it was too difficult a read for her. I checked a page or two of her other reviews, and she gave a really high mark to one of the Merry Gentry books (and not one of the first MG books which actually had a plot - it was one of the porn ones).

That particular review (the one of the Andrews book) made me lose a bit of my already dwindling faith in the human race.

Obviously, this reason will not be true for every troo - but at least one of them likes Hamilton because it simply does not take a great deal of reading comprehension to read her later books.

[maladaptive.livejournal.com]

Amazon reviews will make you lose faith in humanity. I was just looking at them yesterday for a different book and sighed.

[nimnix.livejournal.com]

What's the point of fantasy if you can't fantasize, right? I'm betting there are readers who find them something of a vice. You don't even have to read them all that carefully to get the little elements you want out of it to build your own little fantasy.

My own pleasant fantasy is that the story I'm reading is actually the one in my head, and not the one she's written. She puts the situation down on paper from Anita's perspective, I imagine it from, say, JC's or Mommy Dearest's, where I cackle evilly at the ease with which Anita's sent spiralling downward into this psychological pit of madness. Or I just continue the story from there, in my head.

I skim the sex (so it takes me like an hour to read the entire book), and just lift the plot points and non-sex scenes and paste them into a larger framework of crazy psycho necro chick and the real consequences of her stupidity. It's more like a game than a book, really.

This is much easier with the AB books than with Merry books, because Anita was crafted pretty solidly in the beginning. There's more to chew on.

[daphne-gateau.livejournal.com]

My own pleasant fantasy is that the story I'm reading is actually the one in my head, and not the one she's written.

I do this too! I pretty much live by the rule that Anita is an unreliable narrator.

[lilacwire.livejournal.com]

I have to admit, I still read all the books Laurell puts out because part of my soul wishes for a return of Anita With Plot. I enjoyed the first few books so much and just keep hoping for another glimpse of it.

It's also a bit of a vice, but I wish it were vice with plot.

Yeah, I'm a sucker.

[wellowned.livejournal.com]

i'm with you. i got hooked in high school with... i wanna say NiC, then read the whole series. i've only been seriously disappointed since i bought ID in hardback and there was no substance to it at all. i read it on a 10 hour flight and threw it away when i got to my next airport, i was so disgusted.



granted, i probably should've known. the girl who introduced me to AB and MG also hooked me on romance novels.

[daphne-gateau.livejournal.com]

I'll say up front that I'm not completely sworn off Anita's series. I am nowhere near a troob. What's happened to the series annoys me. But I still glean a certain amount of amusement that keeps me slogging through these bloated books after checking them out from the library.

In the beginning I liked the light reading, crime-fighting/mystery element and the strong female lead with an imperfect figure, no fashion sense and a stuffed penguin for a boyfriend. The new Anita I can't stand, but by now I am interested in the background elements and characters in the novels. JC and the vampires. I like reading new stuff about the vampire community. I don't much care for LKH's interpretation of werewolf packs, but I do like the wolves she has esp Jason and Richard. I guess I keep hoping she'll do something right by them. *shrug* I'm ready to ditch the series though if Blood Noir is drecky.

As for the troobs... I could not say. Something just clicks with some people about this series. LKH is mainstream and easy to stumble upon. But honestly I can't imagine it's just the sex that gets readers into this series. There are PLENTY of hot vampires/werewolves/dragons/faerie boys out there just burning to have sex with heroines. Books by authors that are just as well known and easy to find as LKH is in their genres. Feehan. Kenyon. Even Nora Roberts has that vampire series (it might not be hawt vampires though, I haven't read it).

So I'd have to imagine that Anita herself appeals to people who love the latest books in the series. Just like you said... they like the idea of a woman character that says and does what she wants without consequences and has whatever she desires delivered to her own personal Chippendale dancers. Perhaps a few people really love one of the guys, but since no male is featured consistently it would be hard to explain a person glomming onto a whole series just to follow JC or Richard or Micah who might not even do anything during a whole book. I'd say the draw has to be Anita.

[tartful-dodger.livejournal.com]

I think we all have to be guilty of liking it on some level, otherwise we wouldn't be willing to put in the effort required to snark/keep up with other people's snarkery, or to find it entertaining.

Personally for me its because of the world its set in, and the characters that aren't Anita.

[droa.livejournal.com]

Amen. While it is by no means perfect, I think that LKH has managed to craft a pretty interesting world and related mythology. In my case I'm pretty burnt out all most all of her characters, but oh, the background itself... If it's not love, then I'm willing to settle for extreme fondness.

[drho.livejournal.com]

They do not mind the improper use of commas.

Things Anita Blake and Merry Gentry Fans Like

[gehayi.livejournal.com]

The people who do read it have told me the following:

1) LKH's characters are "safe"--they're roughly the same book after book. The reader doesn't have to worry about character development taking the plot or the character in a way that they're not interested in. This would not strike me as a draw, but for them, it is.

2) Anita/Merry gets to have sex with everyone. Everyone gets to have sex with her. And there's no guilt associated with this. Anita/Merry is not considered a slut.

3) Many feel that the male characters are hot. (There is a considerable debate about WHICH male characters are hot, but all of the Anita Blake/Merry Gentry readers of my acquaintance think that some of them are, even if they can't agree on which.)

4) To quote one fan, "The plots are McGuffins for the sex." Just an excuse to let the sex happen, in other words.

5) Many of them believe that Anita and Merry are strong women who are leaders, and don't think that they can find any other such characters in the mystery or in the fantasy genre.

(If you want to upset someone like this, point out that Merry Gentry's "leadership" is predicated on her fertility. If she can't reproduce, she's of no value to Faerie at all.)

6) Many of the fans I am acquainted with are not readers, by and large, and find LKH's books to be easy reads--not a lot of complexity in language and structure, and you can skim them without missing much, if anything.

Re: Things Anita Blake and Merry Gentry Fans Like

[guardians-song.livejournal.com]

"1) LKH's characters are "safe"--they're roughly the same book after book. The reader doesn't have to worry about character development taking the plot or the character in a way that they're not interested in. This would not strike me as a draw, but for them, it is."

"6) Many of the fans I am acquainted with are not readers, by and large, and find LKH's books to be easy reads--not a lot of complexity in language and structure, and you can skim them without missing much, if anything."

...Hey, you just explained the popularity of DH and HBP... XDDDDDDD

[sharkbytes.livejournal.com]

I agree with some of the above posters--and i'll even go a step further and say that if we didn't care so much, a community such as this wouldn't exist. Because when you peel away the purple prose and the fantastically ridiculous situations, LKH created a really complex and interesting universe. The earlier books in the series were different and in some ways, compelling. I've been a member of this community for a long time, and I've noticed that quite a few of us do retain a bit of hope. What pisses me off is that I *know* LKH is capable of delivering a great story. I'm disappointed that she cheats herself and her readers out of something wonderful because she's either too lazy or too stubborn to take the time to really put her heart and soul into it.

To be honest, I wouldn't mind all the sex if she had a reasonable plot hatched out to go along with it. Characters change and I'm willing to accept that. But I'm not willing to accept changing characters so drastically that they no longer resemble the fictional person we originally loved. She's been coasting on her sex scenes because it takes a lot more time than she allots herself to craft a story that makes sense, and to address issues that she alluded to in earlier books.

I'm certainly not ashamed to admit that I think Obsidian Butterfly was LKH's finest book. It took Anita out of her comfort zone and placed her in a situation where she had to trust Edward, where she had to leave behind her new-found relationships and actually fight for something, and also it forced LKH not to rely on her ready-stock of characters. Ever since then, I've been waiting for her to get back to that level and she just hasn't been able to do it. I think a lot of the problem is that she got greedy with a 2nd series. Her creativity has suffered and a lot of her ideas fall short of the mark.

[moonsinger.livejournal.com]

I really liked her novels through Blue Moon. After that, I've read in hopes that she will write well again. Honestly, I have read worse, but after some of the stuff I've read here, it's really sunk in that LKH is not a good writer, and I'm kind of disappointed because when she first started out with the series and the first two of the Gentry series, I really enjoyed it. I still read, and read through her stuff fast, but I'm also a fast reader.

If I want to read a good, original paranormal I have a ton of authors to choose from.

[dominanefret.livejournal.com]

The thing that I don't understand...

Even at the beginning, when the books were actually plot driven and could still be called mysteries Anita wasn't actually a likable character. The mysteries were fairly well worked, nice and gory, there was a pretty good fantasy element, and a good cast of supporting characters all of which made up for the fairly annoying main character and kept the books worth reading.

But now all of those other elements are gone. No more mystery. No more gore. Very little fantasy. Good supporting characters, bye bye, cringe inducing supporting characters, hello!

So all we are left with is Anita. Do people really like her enough to keep reading the books?
Do people really like her at all?

[gothgoddessrhia.livejournal.com]

I concur with you. I liked the mysteries and Anita's job in the first books. Anita was not likable, but I expected her to evolve as the series went on. The "triangle" did annoy me, but it was fun debating it with friends.

After OB, I really thought we were going to have an interesting resolution to the triangle and see what the fallout would be. I seriously thought we were on the edge of a huge evolution in the character of Anita and how she interacted with her world.

I never saw what actually ended up happening coming down the pike. I remember feeling greatly disheartened with the whole Micah situation. In fact, I wasn't sure I would keep reading. But then I told myself it had to be a plot devise since this is a series and I kept going until DM.

DM is where I lost all faith.

Of course, I may still be reading and hoping for the big reveal that Jean-Claude has been corrupting Anita on purpose to his own evil devices if not for LKH's blog telling us that isn't the case.

What really saddens me was that there was so much potential for this series and it was wasted.

[bubblefaerie.livejournal.com]

I actually read the first Merry book before reading any Anita ones. I did not mind the sex in it because it had a plot that made the sex part of it. So I picked up Anita. At first I was surprised that there was no sex but I actually liked those better because I generally liked the plots and side characters better. I didn't really hate Anita, but didn't really like her. I liked other characters. I really liked her animator job. Whether or not her facts were actually accurate, she presented it in a way that made it seem like they were.

I read all of them through ID in about 2 months. I probably really started getting bored at NIC. I still read her books. I want them to get better. I want to like her characters again. And even though I don't really care for the last few books, they are so easy to read that it takes an hour or two and I'm done. I also block out some things and try not to think about the issue of hygiene.

As for people that love the last few... I have not talked to anyone that likes them that has been able to say why they like them. But a lot of them are younger and tend to be anime fans as well. So maybe, like LKH probably is, they picture all these guys in anime form. The only person I know that was older and reading them had not quite made it to where it started to suck. I gave her a warning, but I don't know if she listened.

[the-mome-wrath.livejournal.com]

I don't think that picturing the characters in anime form or liking anime has anything to do with it. Regardless of what you imagine the characters to look like, there has to be something to the plot or book itself that appeals to you. It's probably because the fans are younger that the books appeal to them. As many of the other posts have said, LKH doesn't have a lot of complexity to her writing and that probably makes it easier for younger fans to read.

[tsubaki-ny.livejournal.com]

I have at least two coworkers who have identified themselves as LKH fans to me, but on deeper conversation I found that they had read 2 or 3 of the book here and there, didn't even realize how many books the series now contained (and were only vaguely aware of Merry Gentry), and the liked them because they were a quick, titillating "mind candy" read (especially since we're all in a business where we have to closely read all day, things that don't necessarily interest us and have to be read several times).

The other two people I'm thinking of were indeed fans in the beginning but have the same complaints voiced here -- they liked the world and the idea of monsters as citizens (and are generally into hot bisexual vampires anyway), but have lost interest in Anita herself. (I read "Guilty Pleasures" because of one of these friends -- we were in the same fandom about 10 years ago.)

[lastshotringing.livejournal.com]

Anita Blake is like Cosmo, in a way. You read it until you actually lose your virginity and then you realize it's all lies.

[gothgoddessrhia.livejournal.com]

LOL.

You win the intertubes for that one!

[librarista.livejournal.com]

I love urban fantasy. LKH is no longer that, but it's still a fun pulp series. Light, has concepts I like, and it's hard for me to give up on things. There are at least two series I've dropped but I like LKH's characters enough to stick with it. For a while I was just waiting to see how bad they got but then there started being signs of hope.

I think if I didn't know anything about LKH, I'd have less problems with her books. And if there were less urban fantasies and paranormal romances I'd have more problems but be even more dedicated to them.

[longtail.livejournal.com]

I dunno, I think it's for the same reason people like porn. There is no plot or decent dialogue, you just fast forward to the sex scenes.

That, or maybe inside the Troos ARE dissapointed, but they've wrapped so much of their identity into being a "hardcore fan" of the series and LKH, they HAVE to defend her even if they know she sucks because the ridicule affects them personally.

[darkese.livejournal.com]

I agree that the TROO'S seem overly invested in the series but I want to add that they don't seem to understand the series. You listen to them discuss events, plot and motivation on the LKH board and it's obvious that a really large number of them just don't retain or understand the books. They take what little plot there is and insert their own fantasy into it.

[fadeinthewash.livejournal.com]

I've a friend who said she enjoyed the books because they were the only romance novels with enough action (like action movie, not the euphemism kind) to keep her interested. That mental reclassification from fantasy to romance actually helped to bolster my flagging interest for another couple books until NiC. She still actually likes them but is disappointed by the lack of zombies, mystery, ass-kicking, and the real Edward.

Ultimately I think the... sincere fans are in it for: an easy read (or they just don't know what to expect for a book to be good), a "strong" female character they think doesn't otherwise exist anywhere, and/or for a tiny taste of non-vanilla sex. Maybe somewhat an interest in Anita's world and LKH's portrayal of the creatures in it, however badly done. (It's too bad about copyright laws and all, because I'd love to the series rewritten. It was never very good, but it had so much potential that's just being continuously wasted.) Some actually seem to relish the fact that Anita's a female misogynist (I guess as a, "wooo! About time those men were shown who's boss! Grrrrrl power via unreasonable domination we'd never put up with were the genders reversed!" kind of thing).

For some reason I'm also reminded of a strawman-esque argument presented by one of the troos, who kept indirectly chiding the detractors as being unhappy with the lack of a "happily ever after" kind of story, citing an archetype of girl-gets-guy monogamy with only a couple sex scenes shown in the book, all of which use rather florid, romantic language. Yay for Anita with her womanizing, polyamorous ways and the dirty, non-poetic language. I don't read romance novels, but I would've expected that sort of plot and text to be at least 30 years out of date. Perhaps not.

[dwg.livejournal.com]

and the dirty, non-poetic language.

I've been hanging out with the Paroxysm (http://www.paroxysmpress.com) people too long, because I nearly spat out my hot chocolate in laughter.

[beth-ann.livejournal.com]

Well I know I got into reading them when I still working for the World of Wally cause I was bored when there was nothing to do in my little broom closet for hours on end. I also believe one of the girls working nearby in the cafeteria area who I would talk to recommended them. An what really grabbed me in the beginning was not LKH's writing style, or even really Anita's character, it was the fact that it was set in St. Louis. Now St. Louis is not a great or famous city, but I love it even though I don't live there presently, but every time I see mentions of it it makes me happy.

An I mean it really is great to sit and read a story and go 'oh my god! I know where that is!' and such. An I kept reading because they were enjoyable books and the first of that kind I had ever read, that wasn't obviously a romance novel.

I actually stopped reading half-way through Cerulean Sins. An it actually wasn't because of the sex, no matter how bad or awful it was. I mean sex I can handle, and if I don't really like it I am perfectly capable of skimming or skipping it. I mean that's what I do with most of the romance novels I read on occasion. I stopped reading because Anita's character became completely insufferable, self-centered, egotistical and the books was frustrating me to the point of violence. So I just closed the book and never went back. I simply could not stand Anita as a character anymore so I stopped.

But I think in a way Anita can feed into the fantasy of always wanting to be right. Because Anita is always right, everyone else is wrong and why don't they just understand. It's a kind of wish fulfillment, along with the way she's not afraid to say whatever she feels about you, screw the consequences. We all wish we could do it on occasion, but you can't really because there are no consequences.

An some people are just gullible.

[amamelina.livejournal.com]

Your icon is too funny. I love it! <3

[eijikikumaru-01.livejournal.com]

I myself still enjoy the books.
I think for me it's that I never really liked Anita in the first place. In the first few books I felt like she was a poseur, and that she was very full of herself. Women that act like they don't want to be women but still do things like wear makeup and work out and do their hair and all these "feminine" things drive me insane, and that was Anita to a 't'. The idea that a writer could write from the viewpoint of a character with all these negative character traits was a draw to me. Anita wasn't perfect, but somehow LKH was able to write her in such a way that I could understand other peoples' draw to the character. Not only that, but I found myself liking the other characters. Jean-Claude was a magnificent manipulative ass, and Richard was a wonderful hero and a good match for Anita (up until book 3.)
As the books have gone on I've hated Anita far more, but I like to pretend that LKH knows how flawed Anita is. In my poor little fantasies the entire series is a look into how the world would applaud a man that lived the way Anita does and would dub him a 'player' but Anita is considered a 'whore' by so many people, both in the books and readers alike. Do I *really* believe LKH is that creative anymore? No. But as it stands, Anita really isn't so much a whore as she's just unfair with her lovers and very unrealistic. I think it's also interesting how Anita has to rationalize her lifestyle-- sex is always to save herself or the world, it's never for pure sex. I feel that this represents the archaic idea that a woman that sleeps around for the sake of pleasure itsself is a whore. So for me it's the terrible plotlessness and the stupid double-standards that keep me coming-- it's nice to read a book where the main character is FAR from perfect, even if the author seems to think that she is.

[kerame.livejournal.com]

"In my poor little fantasies the entire series is a look into how the world would applaud a man that lived the way Anita does and would dub him a 'player' but Anita is considered a 'whore' by so many people, both in the books and readers alike."

I think it's just the opposite. If Anita were a male character who treated women this way, no one would claim that the protagonist was in anyway a hero, it would be clear he was an abusive monster.

"But as it stands, Anita really isn't so much a whore as she's just unfair with her lovers and very unrealistic."

I agree she's not a whore, she's a pimp because she's the one with all the power.

In addition to being a pimp, she's also a rapist, pusher and molester. If those she has power over refuse to obey her sexually, or in any other way, she feels no compunction about having them killed along with their families as we saw with the lion king. That's way more than unfair, and was probably done to set an example to Richard of what his disobedience could lead to. Hamilton's fans certainly took it that way.

Under those conditions is it any wonder Micah will agree to "any conditions to be in her life", or that JC will sleep next to and have 3-ways with a man he loves without having sex with him? She's like some insane, power-mad god or emperor.

[othellia.livejournal.com]

I was thinking about making a topic like this earlier today but more in the vein of "how are there still fans?" Then I had to remind myself that a lot of people don't like to read that much, and those that dabble in fiction are looking for cheap, quick entertainment and don't have a lot of experience to compare new books with. DX

[freyalorelei.livejournal.com]

1. It's an easy read, especially when you have a head cold or it's a slow day at work and you are in the mood for light, non-demanding material.

2. Not everyone reads at a college or even high school level. There are many adults who are borderline illiterate who would find the books interesting. (And hey, if you're an adult learning to read on LKH's books, more power to ya. Reading is better than not.) In short, the people who uncritically read her books do not read in general, or are not sufficiently literate to compare her to superior authors.

3. That said, a lot of people apparently first read her when they were young and impressionable because, gee whiz, it's sex and vampires and guns and OMGSOKEWLIEZ!!!11! rantingmule started me on the AB series when I was in high school, back when there were maybe five or six books out, and at that point my "adult" book experience consisted of things like the Earth's Children series and Gone with the Wind. When you're sixteen, your shit-detector isn't fully operational.

4. The Anita books in particular had such a promising start, and the Merry books had so much untapped potential. At this point I prefer Merry, because even though the books are basically nonstop sexcapades, at least she doesn't spend the whole series angsting about it.

5. Unfortunately, Laurell's right: sex sells. Why her books are so widely read over a shit ton of better authors is beyond me, but the racy content gives her notoriety. It's flat-out porn available at your local supermarket. That little "New York Times Bestselling Author!" blurb on the cover doesn't hurt, either.

6. The first 5-9 books hook you in (it's debatable when she jumped the shark), and of course by then you are already "into" the series and want to find out what happens to the characters. It's the collectable factor--gotta catch 'em all.

[duchym.livejournal.com]

I certainly do not mind the fact that Hamilton's books can be read by people who might not be at a high school or college reading level. Hell, I love to read something light and fluffy myself from time to time, particularly when I'm not feeling well or worn out from work.

But what I do mind is the way that Hamilton herself, as expressed so many times in her mindblowingly oboxious blog, thinks she is a serious artist - she honestly seems to think she is the next coming of Tolstoy or something.

I actually find her attitude more irritating than the books (except for DM, as there is no excuse for that steaming pile of poo).

Lady - you write mindless plotless porn set in a world where you cannot remember baic rules and facts about the characters and keep them straight. Get over yourself, please.

[roguetailkinker.livejournal.com]

I like a lot of the characters other than Anita. I love Jean-Claude and Asher, in fact, most of the vampires. Sampson also caught my fancy (which is why I've read DM way more than most of the other snarkers). I like Jason, and of course, who doesn't love Zerbrowski?

[duchym.livejournal.com]

I would love for Jean Claude and Asher to openly be a couple. In my fantasies, they ARE the main couple, and laugh at Anita behind her back for being such a trickable and gullible person.

[hookncrook.livejournal.com]

I, truely, believe the lovers of the more current LKH novels love it because they have never been exposed to good erotic novels. LKH is three steps down from most romance novels (even the bad ones) but tittlating enough that a teen girl or really straight housewife might gasp in shock having never been exposed to the concept of a threesome before.

[burning-nova.livejournal.com]

I use to like her because of the story. I like mystery and action and loved Buffy. Anita just seemed like a good choice when I picked it up. I generally skipped the early sex scenes because I found them annoying, I wasn't reading for any sex, and passed them. After reading a few Buffy and Anita fanfiction crossovers, I made it to NiC before I got bored with the thought of more sex. I just wanted to "meet" Narcissus because he sounded interesting.

The word she created is interesting and If she hadn't "jumped the shark" I would be happier with the books. Y'know I didn't even know that Micah raped Anita in NiC until I found this place because again, I skipped the scenes. For my fantasy gun-wielding magic users I go to The Dresden Files. I like that a bit more.

[amamelina.livejournal.com]

Ok, I'll admit it, when I first started reading the book series, I wanted to be Anita. I was so happy that I thought I looked like a chubby Anita. My friends and I would read the books and talk for hours about what we thought.

Then the sex started to be too much. I stopped reading the Merry Gentry series after the second book. AB after Micah. I'm a prude. Sex is something I don't mind in a book, but it has to be enough that I can skip it and still have a book to read. Heck, you should see how much Romantica I have. A chapter or two is fine, the whole book isn't.

And, of course, I'm a weird duck. I can't give my money to someone I no longer fully respect. I'm sure LKH is a nice person, but from her blogs and the permissions she gives Darla to post in her blog and complain on her behalf. I also can't give my money to someone who's views are so different from mine that we're like from different universes. Anyone who is so callous with molestation, rape, STDs, pregnancy and monogomy makes me squick.

I'm not the only one of my friends who feel like this. I have a guy friend who only made it to CS before the sex (yes the sex) bothered him. He said, and I'm quoting, "If I wanted porn, I'd go on the net and get good porn for free. With pictures."

[beth-ann.livejournal.com]

I was kind of the same way. Anita had some physical qualities I could relate to early on. An I'm sure that's still some of the appeal people have towards the series, identifying/wanting to be Anita. I mean if we're all entirely honest, who would really complain about having a beautiful male harem hanging around willing to do whatever it took to please you? It's a nice and more common than people would like to admit female fantasy.

An yeah, it's pathetically easy to get porn, an decent porn that covers almost anything you want. An the people in it don't angst about it afterwards. In some ways LKH's writing of sex and that reminds me of Japanese hentai. There is resistance, but as long as the other person enjoys it, it's not really rape or a wrong thing.

[bludflower.livejournal.com]

To be honest, I wasn't impressed when I read the first three books. I became a fan somewhere between the 4th book and OB. LKH's writing was and still is bloody awful...BUT, what had me coming back to them was the continuous action and the great sexual tension--two things I was hoping to get some pointers on. Aside from that, I borrowed the books from a friend between semesters for non-academic brain-candy. Basically, I was exhausted from thinking too hard and needed mindless entertainment--part of that entertainment was my constant nit-picking of the terrible writing.

My friend is still a big fan. She's attracted to Anita as a "strong female" who doesn't need a man to blah, blah, blah... My friend has a heart of gold, but unfortunately her values and ideas of strength are almost as warped as Anita's and EVERYTHING she does is excessive. She tries to come off as a surly tomboy, yet takes three hours to primp, etc, etc... Thank Jeebus we don't have a Ronny/Anita relationship.

Maybe LKH mostly appeals to a lot of socially stunted people with skewed self images--the troos, I mean. If they don't understand how repellant they can be, how would they realize how screwed up and pathetic Anita's behavior is?