2 posts tagged “marriage”
[Please note, I think I'm PMS-ing right now so this review is a little more emotional and a little more disjointed than my normal reviews (HA!). It's still awesome :) ]
I've just recently discovered Suzanne Brockmann, though she's been published for a few years, thanks to Amazon.ca and my own dogged determination.
... what? You thought you'd get through a review without self-aggrandizment? Silly rabbit, self-effacement is for kids!
The first book of her's that I read was Ladies' Man:
Luckily for me, I read another book by her.
Yes, this one sucked that bad, at least in my opinion.
... you want a fuller review? Fine. It was full of the stupid romcom nonsense I abhor. There was great chemistry between the lead characters but otherwise, it was a waste of the couple of hours it took to read.
Thankfully, I read the other book I had on hold at the library, Force of Nature.
Damn.
DAMN.
DAMN.
Wow.
Technically, Force of Nature was the tenth? eleventh maybe? book in the Troubleshooters series. But wow, what a great way to be introduced to them. Truthfully, I'm a little hazy on the whole storyline (sorry, it was a little while ago and I've read at least 5 books since then) but it... How do I say this?
She creates characters that aren't normal.
She creates characters that are like those we would meet in real life. Asian people, Black people (can I say black people? Is that racist? I haven't figured that one out yet and yes, I'm serious) and... GAY people.
Dudes, you don't know how long I've waited to see a mainstream gay person in a romance novel where it's not treated as a disease or as a throwaway joke. Hell, it would be nice to see a Chinese person in a novel who doesn't speak in a weird, stilted manner who also has a black belt as a hobby but whatever, baby steps.
But Jules. Dear lord, this woman created Jules Cassidy, FBI agent extraordinaire and openly gay, then throws him the perfect man who is so fucked up from trying to stay in the closet that he looks like the worst mistake ever.
The best part?
SPOILER:
They get married in All Through the Night, her Christmas novella that follows up on their relationship, in Boston, her hometown, in celebration of the fact that Massachusetts, at the time and hopefully still, made gay marriage legal.
(FYI, I hate that we refer to it as gay marriage. It's just fucking MARRIAGE, people. Grow the hell up.)
Dudes. She made a mainstream gay PERSON, not a caricature, not a martyr, not some crazed stereotype that makes being gay this weird thing but a fully breathing person, someone I would love to be friends with, especially since he'd actually kick the ass of anyone who'd cheat on me.
She's created this world that reflects the one I actually live in: with people of colour, occasionally intermarrying with those who ... aren't? I guess? Though pinky flesh would be a colour, I think. I mean, Crayola would call it a colour, right?
Sorry, I know, weird digression. I've always wondered about the "people of colour" thing. I mean, I've met Chinese people who are whiter than white people. And what's up with the yellow skin thing when it comes to Chinese people? I'm very confused.
ANYWAY, she's created a world that I want to live in, one where love shouldn't have to hide in the shadows, one where people can fight and argue and not break up to create "romantic tension" (this is one of the cliches of romances I absolutely loathe) but instead actually talk things out to, maybe not solve everything, but to put everything out there between partners, so that there aren't any secrets or tension from secrets.
Have I convinced you yet? Will you give her a try? Hell, if you're not sure about starting from the beginning, let me assure you, I don't believe you have to. Start with Forces of Nature then go to All Through the Night and if you're not crying when you read her epilogue of how and why she created these characters, you and I need to have a come to Jesus talk.
You do not want a come to Jesus talk with me. I curse. A lot.
Now, this is the only way I can end this: I'm not gay and it shouldn't matter. I'm Chinese and it shouldn't matter. Mixed marriages weren't allowed until mid-1900s; are we really going to let this persecution continue to another group of people? Why does who you love matter more than that you love them?
And if you say, "The Bible," believe me, I will beat you with mine. Some of you are why I no longer go to church.
Seriously, give her a read then come back and tell me how right I am.
Would you sign a prenuptial agreement? Why or why not?
Submitted by Lantastic.
I'm of two minds about this, so here we go:
1) Yes: because it does give a sense of security to both parties in the sense that you know that the person is entering the relationship, not thinking about what they can get out of it if the relationship ever dissolves.
Here's the way I think about it: if my spouse is the one with the money and I love him, it would make his family feel better, knowing that I don't care about his money, that that's not why I want to marry him and it might also quiet any fears he may have in the dark recesses of his mind that my love is contingent on if he has money. But:
2) No: because, as my partner, you should know me better than to believe that I would love you only because you have money, motherfucker. If you don't know me any better than that, why did you ask me to marry you?!
I think the biggest problems come if you marry someone you don't really know or someone who you believe you know but who you actually have a very shallow relationship with. I mean, if you know the person you're marrying and you know they're really out just for your money but you're willing to enter into a legal arrangement with them (oooh, look at me being all romantic about marriage!), then I think it would be the smartest thing to actually sign a contract with them.
But that's the pragmatic person in me.
So... yes and no. It depends on if I'm willing to swallow my sense of pride and sense of rightness and my sense of maybe he doesn't love me enough and then willing to accept it as a pragmatist and sign the thing with a song in my heart.
But if you ever hear about a guy on the west coast of Canada being admitted to the hospital because a contract and pen had been shoved so far up his up his ass, they can peep the title of the contract through his nose? It could be me.
