Strange writing

[chococomilk.livejournal.com]

I haven't read any of LKH's books past Harlequin, as they were so trippy and orgy-tastic by that point that I felt ashamed to be seen reading them even by my family, but curiosity got the better of me and I went to read an excerpt on Amazon of the latest book, "Bullet", to see what it was like. Immediately, this two-sentence gem leapt out at me:

"Monica's son was under five, so he didn't count as male yet. He was just a generic child."

I was under the impression that if he's Monica's son, that means he is a male. You can't be called somebody's son unless you have male genitalia. Since when has biological sex been determined by age? And what is a "generic child"? Does she mean that to Anita, Monica's son is unremarkable from other five year old boys? Is that because Anita isn't a mother, and is blind to the powerful individualism mothers ascribe to their offspring from other people's? Is it because he has very ordinary features - brown hair and brown eyes, the most common of phenotypes?

"I heard my name squealed out, in that high-pitched generic toddler voice."

What is a generic toddler voice? Squeaky? Of course it is - a boy's voice doesn't break until puberty. I think I can see what she means, and from Anita's perspective that all children seem alike is probably understandable since she doesn't have any and doesn't know anyone who has any, but it is a remarkably clumsy bit of writing. There's a lot of commentary on the sheer avalanche of sex scenes in LKH's novels, and on excessive word repetition (e.g. spilled) but has anyone else been turned off by the lack of writing quality?

Comments

[lerouxpapillion.livejournal.com]

She's probably writing that he's not male yet to explain why Anita doesn't want to bone him. After all, it seems that everyone else who is male must submit to the doomcrotch.

See also Edward's 'son' (name escapes me at the moment) and the whole sexualization there.

ETA: I may be a little cranky/jaded here. Plz to be forgiving.

[quizzicalsphinx.livejournal.com]

"Monica's son was under five, so he didn't count as male yet. He was just a generic child."

Translation: If Anita can't have sex with it yet, it doesn't count.

[daphne-gateau.livejournal.com]

The descriptor 'generic' and any kind of human do not belong in the same sentence if your a professional writer. I mean, it's kind of her job to make the characters and the world *not* be generic, yes? It's especially cold when talking about a child. Just read that again and see...

"He was just a generic child."

That's wtf crazy. And please tell me that boy is not squealing in delight because Anita showed up. Do even the Not Chronologically Male children become instantly enchanted with Anita? Ugh.

[bleedtoblue.livejournal.com]

"but has anyone else been turned off by the lack of writing quality?"

Hasn't everyone?

[dwg.livejournal.com]

To me, it's ten kinds of creepy and wrong that Matthew is described as "generic child/didn't count as male yet" while little girls are "estrogen rich."

Boys aren't really boys when they're under five, but girls will always be girls so keep your unrelated adult males away from them!

EUGH.

[threeringedmoon.livejournal.com]

Thanks for this post. I had been wondering if I should pick up Bullet to see if there has been an improvement in LKH's writing, and now I won't have to.

[loupgaros.livejournal.com]

Huh? My mind boggles. How could her editor miss that?

[desert-vixen.livejournal.com]

“Funny how it’s never your fault when you have to have sex with all
these men, Anita,” and with that she walked away. She walked away with
the proverbial knife stuck deep and hard right through my heart. Nothing
cuts deeper than when another person says exactly what you’re afraid to
say out loud. Hell, Matthew had said it, too, in his way. All the big boys kiss you, ’Nita.

Sort of on-topic, but do you ever get the feeling that the characters are pleading for help? There were a couple places in the mess that was Blood Noir where it was like the old Anita was trying to peek out of the character.

Also, LKH, not everything has to be broken down into "women's sphere" and "men's sphere". Just a thought...

[suzycat.livejournal.com]

I started reading the excerpt and got tripped up by this:

In my navy blue skirt suit I looked
like a dozen other mothers who had had to come straight from work to
the dance recital. Righto. She looks like a mother. My hair was a little curly and a little too black for all the
blond mothers, but no one gave me a second glance. so, your hair was too dark and curly *screams* for them, presumably causing them to hate you, BUT despite your speshulness nobody gave you a second glance? Did you mean your hair was too dark and curly for you to BE one of the blondE mothers?
The one saving grace as I threaded my way through the crowd of parents, aunts, uncles, grandparents, and siblings was that I wasn’t one of the parents. Thank GOD! Not a parent, which is just as well as your hair is too dark for you to be... oh, GOD.