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lizziea229 's review for:
The Angel's Game
by Carlos Ruiz Zafón
PLEASE READ AND TELL ME IF I'M WRONG. I have bitterly come to the conclusion that Carlos Ruiz Zafon hates women. Or, at least, thinks very little of them.
In Shadow of the Wind, I thought his female characters were diverse and three dimensional. I loved Bea Aguilar. I love Nuria and Mercedes. But having read The Angel's Game, I see that Zafon employs the same irritating stereotypes male mystery authors always do. They are as follows:
1) The Too-Perfect Angel: Clara, Penelope, Cristina... all beautiful ethereal humourless waifs with dominant male figures (Barcelo, Mr Aguilar, Don Pedro, Miguel) looming over the protagonist's desires to Tell Her How She Feels, all realising their undying love for the Nice Guy when its too late. They all suffer, obviously.
2) The One With Opinions: Bea, Isabella, Nuria... Zafon painstakingly forces "independence" and "stubborness" onto these poor girls like one would drain blood from a stone. Phrases like "you don't know me" and "don't tell me what to do" are just about the only thing they ever say.
3) The background spinsters: Pallid fishwives and waspish secretaries and Maidens Married To God. That's it.
AND NONE OF THE WOMEN CAN EVER MAKE UP THEIR MINDS ABOUT WHETHER THEY'RE IN LOVE OR NOT.
The only fates for women in Zafon's world are to either die for the crime of falling in love, or being abandoned in a loony bin.
I love Zafon's writing and will read his other books too. But as a female reader, I am exhausted by Zafon's obvious past tramatic relationship with a pretty girl who abandoned him at a train station.
In Shadow of the Wind, I thought his female characters were diverse and three dimensional. I loved Bea Aguilar. I love Nuria and Mercedes. But having read The Angel's Game, I see that Zafon employs the same irritating stereotypes male mystery authors always do. They are as follows:
1) The Too-Perfect Angel: Clara, Penelope, Cristina... all beautiful ethereal humourless waifs with dominant male figures (Barcelo, Mr Aguilar, Don Pedro, Miguel) looming over the protagonist's desires to Tell Her How She Feels, all realising their undying love for the Nice Guy when its too late. They all suffer, obviously.
2) The One With Opinions: Bea, Isabella, Nuria... Zafon painstakingly forces "independence" and "stubborness" onto these poor girls like one would drain blood from a stone. Phrases like "you don't know me" and "don't tell me what to do" are just about the only thing they ever say.
3) The background spinsters: Pallid fishwives and waspish secretaries and Maidens Married To God. That's it.
AND NONE OF THE WOMEN CAN EVER MAKE UP THEIR MINDS ABOUT WHETHER THEY'RE IN LOVE OR NOT.
The only fates for women in Zafon's world are to either die for the crime of falling in love, or being abandoned in a loony bin.
I love Zafon's writing and will read his other books too. But as a female reader, I am exhausted by Zafon's obvious past tramatic relationship with a pretty girl who abandoned him at a train station.