Explosive Eighteen by Janet Evanovich

[lightreads]

Explosive Eighteen by Janet Evanovich

My rating: 1 of 5 stars


…And no. I didn't read this one on a plane, so it was a total disaster. I was grinding my teeth by the time the book set up an extended joke to explain that the heroine is having bad mojo because she -- gasp! -- slept with two guys. (If you were wondering, the bad mojo goes away when she swears off sex.) But the worst part is, this book isn't even successfully managing the slut-shaming agenda the author has been subliminally and explicitly dishing out for years. I mean, to really tell a story about actions and consequences, which this one specifically claims to be doing, where a woman is punished for owning her sexual desires and acting on them . . . yeah . . . first you have to write a story where a woman owns her sexual desires and acts on them. And Evanovich cannot do that. There is not a single character here who acts out of personal volition. The heroine explained last book that she's "acting slutty" because someone put a curse on her. You guys, she can't even pretend to own it, it is so fucking sad. I can't even really get pissed about the shape of the meta narrative here, because it's not punishing her for finally growing a pair and getting what she wants, since i>she didn't do that. We get a replay of the same plot in this book where her friend accidentally drinks something that makes her fall for this dude, and it's played for -- I just -- I am running out of words, I can't even.

And it's not even funny! The shot-in-the-foot joke was funny exactly one-and-a-half times, and this is, like, number five!




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Comments

[readerjane]

The joke about the love potion (which, yes, was SO tired, almost as tired as shooting-in-the-foot) made me think of this from John Scalzi's Thanksgiving Advent Calendar:

In my experience a fair amount of drinking happens because someone wants to do a thing they can’t do when sober because they’re terrified, or chicken, or worried about being embarrassed or whatever. So they have a couple of drinks, lower the inhibition shield and then they can enjoy themselves. Which is fine, and often an elegant solution for that person. But I personally think it’s better just to sack up, recognize that anything that drinking to give yourself permission would solve could probably also be achieved while sober, and then do it. Then you actually get to be totally present for that thing, which is even better.

[lightreads]

Yep, that pretty much sums it up.

And yet we can't quit, can we? I totally intend to see the movie . . . provided someone pre-screens it for me and says it's worth a giggle or two.

[readerjane]

I keep coming back for Ranger.

Come to think of it, Ranger does own his choices.

Funny how Janet can write a male character that way, but not a female character. Especially when she insists she would never write a book from a male POV because she has no idea what goes on inside men's heads.

In 18, Stephanie thinks at one point that she will never be a priority for Ranger, while taking advantage of his resources and his time. I don't know why Janet thinks that's not being treated like a priority. Humph.