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July 4, 2005

How is a Book Like a Shoe?

From Lauren, July's Guest Literary Chick!

It has come to my attention, sadly, that there are people loose in the world who malign Chick-Lit on a regular basis, thinking every single offering in the subgenre is a fluffy, lighter-than-air confection about shopping and dating. It is my firm belief that the misguided people who say these things have never bothered to actually read Chick-Lit – or maybe they’ve only read one or two offerings – and thus perceive us as all writing about Manolos and Cosmos, a sorry situation that has prompted me to come up with the throwaway line, “The only time one of my (anti)heroines goes shopping is if she needs a disguise.” I’m afraid I haven’t come up yet with a throwaway line for the Cosmos, but I’m working on it, although first I suppose I should try one myself to see what all the fuss is about. Mmm…

It seems to me, for people to assume all Chick-Lit offerings play out a certain way is the same as assuming all mysteries are the same – or any genre, for that matter, plus literary fiction – when in fact mysteries are as varied as the people who write them, subsetting (if I can coin my own word here) into cozies, hardboiled, etc. And, further, to dismiss all Chick-Lit based on the example of a few is about as silly as tossing all of literature out because one had a bad experience with Beowulf in high school.

In the interests, then, of widening the perception of Chick-Lit, I’ve decided to attempt an isolation of some of its subsets in the wild. The following is offered tongue-in-cheek – of course! – and seeks to answer the question, But what if Chick-Lit really were all about shoes, what kinds of shoes would we each be?

STILETTOES: These are the books that actually do take place within the fashion industry, two examples of which are Fashionistas by Lynn Messina and The Devil Wears Prada by Lauren Weisberger. Naturally, they’re much more than that – in fact, I recently read that the literary novelist Kazuo Ishiguro claims to have given his daughter a copy of Devil because he wanted her to have a better grasp of the world – and each not only has some shoes between the covers but also deals with the inherent difficulties of the Modern Woman, juggling career and relationships while aiming for work that has meaning. Oh, and they’re fun too.

BIRKENSTOCKS: I chose this name, not because these books are particularly crunchy or granola-ish, but because they don’t take place in urban settings, those urban settings being another misconception about Chick-Lit. These books do not take place in New York or London or even Reykjavik. Examples might be Mean Season by Heather Cochran or Tales of a Drama Queen by Lee Nichols. Come to think of it, my third novel, A Little Change of Face, takes place wholly in Danbury and Bethel, Connecticut, so perhaps I can qualify for a Birkenstock rating too, no?

FERRAGAMOS: Did I spell that right? Again, I select this name not so much because these books necessarily are Ferragamos, but because being the fashion-not that I am – can’t even spell the damn things – they’re the only foreign shoemaker I can think of. Examples might be Burning the Map by Laura Caldwell (Italy, Greece) or Every Boy’s Got One by Meg Cabot (whoops! Italy again). Looks like I like Italy, a lot, and I also like these books because I get to feel like I’m traveling places without paying a lot for a ticket or having the underwire of my 36C bra too closely examined by airport security.

GELLIES: Probably the most unusual shoe designation of all here – I’ve never even owned a pair – I select this name because they are thematically close to the books I feel come under this heading. Being plastic, they are a great metaphor for books about people who impersonate or fake things. In this instance, I’d like to offer up my own first novel, The Thin Pink Line, which is about a woman who fakes an entire pregnancy, and About a Boy by Nick Hornby, the man I nominate for Honorary Chick whenever I get the chance because his books are very similar in plot, tone and theme to what I consider to be the best of Chick-Lit: books that are fun to read while at the same time providing social commentary on the way we live our lives. Really, Jane Austen would have proudly hung out with Nick.

So, there you have it! It looks, after all, like it really is all about shoes. Until next time, then, when perhaps we’ll tackle handbags or lingerie, I’ll sign off here. Oh, but maybe first I should take just one more sip off this Cosmo before I go. Mmm…

Lauren Baratz-Logsted is the author of The Thin Pink Line and Crossing the Line. Her third novel, A Little Change of Face, will be published in July 2005. Her essay, “If Jane Austen Were Writing Today,” is collected in Flirting with Pride and Prejudice: Fresh Perspectives on the Original Chick-Lit Masterpiece, edited by Jennifer Crusie and due out from Benbella Books on September 1.

Posted by at 6:00 AM | Comments (1)

Comments

Posted by: Lani at July 4, 2005 9:38 AM