Am I A Chick?

Am I A Chick?

I bought a second hand “chick lit” book earlier this year and I’m struggling to read it. The difficulty is not in the words or the content, it’s in the part that I can’t really figure out if there’s a story or not. This isn’t the first time I’ve found chick lit so hard to “understand”.

 

A lot of these books seem to have women acting like teenagers.

 

I’m all for childishness. I packed glow sticks to take to a conference and have 100 party poppers in my party box along with sparklers so I can go play with them whenever I want to. I want a trampoline. Childishness is one thing. It’s about allowing yourself to find joy in whatever you want to.

 

Teenagers though. Geez. I hated most teenagers when I was a teenager. “I like this person but not that one.”  or “She wore the wrong thing so we can’t like her.” or “She did THAT with HIM?!”

 

Am I A Chick?

 

That really is teenager talk to me. And these chick lit books seem to be full of it. It all seems to be about insecure and unhappy women tearing each other down and having “fun” (which seems to be alcohol only) in a few places.

 

Are that many women really insecure and unhappy? Does every woman think dressing up is glamourous?

 

This has me asking:

Am I A Chick?

 

Well, biologically and all of that, yes. I am female. I identify as female.

 

Socially? Well, I don’t know. I generally don’t dress up, wear heels or makeup. Things that, like it or not (not, in my case) are seen as pretty defining things for the female gender.

 

Where do you sit on chick lit?

 

 

12 Replies to “Am I A Chick?”

  1. Hi Ness – I hear you about Chick Lit. Some of it is very juvenile and I often wonder how on earth it gets published. I’m no literary queen, I like a good story, but some of the Chick Lit is just fluff!

    1. Vanessa Smith says: Reply

      I’m all for fluff – we need downtime, but chick lit seems to be so full of nastiness, and not even in a good/interesting character way.

  2. I used to read chick lit as a way to tune out after a lot of heavy literary fiction or even crime fiction. I know chick lit authors hate it that they get such a bad rap but I will agree that most of the chick lit I’ve read has felt very superficial. Having said that, I do dress up a bit because it makes me feel good about myself but at the same time, I’m not very girly in many other ways.

    1. Vanessa Smith says: Reply

      I bought this particular book for a tune out type read, but I find it more stressful to read than more ‘serious’ types of books. Maybe it’s just not for me at all.

  3. I call Chick LIt, “Fairy Floss”. No real substance or nourishment…just a quick and dirty escape from reality. And I say that because I’m sure neither of us have met chicks like the ones in those books.

    My biggest problem with Chick Lit is that I’m such a quick reader, I burn through them in an hour or two and feel really ripped off. Especially if I paid or the book!

    1. Vanessa Smith says: Reply

      I think that’s it – I don’t find them an escape from reality. Fairy floss is a good nickname for it and I can totally appreciate the need for it, but the pettiness of characters in chick lit aren’t escapism for me. It just fills me with negativity; and reality can have plenty of that already.

  4. I can’t read continuous “Chick Lit” but it is nice for fillers. I like Zoe Foster Blakes books plus Liane Moriarty but some are just bland.

    1. Vanessa Smith says: Reply

      I’m thinking I should dig around the library to find some authors I like.

  5. I’m not really sure what ‘chick lit’ is. I read Lianne Moriarty who is a chick. Is she chick lit? I don’t get into dressing up much either Vanessa. I certainly don’t like anything with a teenager tone. If I don’t like a book in the first page I don’t buy it. I think that should be a writer’s creed. Make the first page really bloody good!

    1. Vanessa Smith says: Reply

      Sure as hell can’t hurt! This book I finally finished was like two stories – one in the first and last chapter and teenaged bitching inbetween.

  6. I think you’re reading the wrong kind of Chick Lit! Like any genre, some of it is good, and some of it is bad! Read a bit of Jess Rudd. I like her Chick Lit. And love Liane Moriarty too (not that I would call that Chick Lit … I’d call Liane’s books ‘mega page turners’!)

    1. Vanessa Smith says: Reply

      So far it has been random second hand books – so maybe I have been unlucky!

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