echo Disclaimer: This article is based on the writers’ own personal opinion. It does not reflect the views or opinions of Sunway Echo Media as a whole.
Books have held a special place in many people’s hearts for centuries. They provoke thoughts, stir emotions, and maybe raise some controversies. In recent years, certain authors and titles have drawn the public’s attention not because of their writing, but because of the moral, cultural, and ethical boundaries they push. Some works are applauded for pushing this boundary however some face criticism, especially for causing discomfort and unsettling emotions. Furthermore, the rise of websites such as Wattpad and AO3 has significantly impacted the younger generation. Due to authors normalising such sensitive and uncomfortable themes, it has been mirrored on platforms such as Wattpad and AO3 where anyone of any age can write.
Furthermore, the rise of booktok is a community of people using the popular social media app Tiktok to discuss books and literature topics. Several critics have voiced their concerns, especially over the “lack of intellectual stimulation” and the promotion of cartoony cover pages that may be misleading as the book itself could possess adult content such as “Icebreaker” by Hannah Grace. Booktok further promotes fast and overconsumption of books and shallow tropes hence this leaves people not wanting to read well-written books but something short and fast.
This article delves into some of the most controversial authors and their books, examining why certain books may provoke such reactions and those authors who blur the lines of creative freedom and responsible storytelling.
E.L. James
Whether you love it or hate it, the novel “50 Shades of Grey’ written by E.L. James has broken multiple publication records. However, underneath all that hype lies the daunting truth about its problematic themes such as its problematic deception of romance, toxic power dynamics and unclear views of consent.
It has glorified stalking and controlling behaviours as well as blurring the lines between informed and uninformed consent. Furthermore, it has been attributed to the boom of BDSM (Bondage and Discipline, Dominance and Submission, and Sadomasochism) however, the portrayal of BDSM in the novel has been reportedly inaccurate. It has groomed women into BDSM by misinterpreting what it is entirely and normalising it to the point of it being a part of a child’s normal vocabulary. Many readers have felt that the relationship crosses abuse rather than consensual BDSM and this is evident from the way the main character is written who is known to be controlling, manipulative and portraying a dangerous dynamic that may have been normalised in society.
The book has not only been criticised for its portrayal of sensitive subjects but also its poor writing quality, it is understood it was once a Twilight fan fiction, but it has several repetitions making it redundant. Worst of all, there seem to be several grammar and punctuation mistakes and relies on terrible cliches. Lastly, it has terrible pacing of the storyline and the characters seem to be underdeveloped.
Colleen Hoover
If you are wondering what or who ushered in this whole discourse on how misguided recent books are and the alarming lack of literacy among young readers, it would be none other than Colleen Hoover herself.
Colleen Hoover rose to fame due to booktok which quickly put her at the top of the New York Bestseller list. Her novels are known for their “spicy content” and toxic relationships. Her books have often portrayed women in several violent relationships. A stereotypical example of her work is “It Ends With Us”. The lessons that are portrayed in her books are mostly that no matter how broken a man is, he can be fixed by a woman and this underlines her message that women should submit to a man. It is especially alarming as most of her readers can be as young as 14 years old. Hoover has unfortunately glorified domestic abuse which has created a normalisation of abuse in younger audiences who are easily influenced.
Furthermore, the marketing of her books and recently the movie itself, has sparked quite a few discussions as to how romantic and acceptable it is being presented to people. The general public is deluded as to what the movie truly signifies and without disclaimers, it can even be traumatising to some. Check out our Twitter post for further insight!
Ana Huang
Romance novels possess a wide range of infamous tropes that have fulfilled the fantasies and wishes of many readers. To name a few: the enemies-to-lovers trope, the grumpy x sunshine trope, the mysterious and aloof millionaire trope, the single bed trope or the supposed dark romance trope which involves some kind of mafia, whose heart thaws for that one girl with big, beautiful eyes (who has major commitment issues and raises huge red flags with his bizarrely possessive attitude). Now, imagine combining all these tropes into one, and add in a dash of the brother’s best friend trope plus the bodyguard turned lover trope, and there you have it; an Ana Huang romance novel!
It is quite safe to say that most of the author’s books—the Twisted series, King series, If Love series, are definitely cliched, and are most likely written to cater for the general ‘booktok’ audience, who generally have tendencies to demand the ‘spiceness’ level of a book, instead of appreciating the book as a whole—with its worldbuilding, character development and supporting characters (who really do play a critical part in a story). Evidently, it is disappointing how romance novels have been merely narrowed down to the basest of tropes (and merely a whole lot of smut) as seen in some of Ana Huang’s books.
Twisted Love, for instance, begins with the trope of brother’s billionaire best friend-next door neighbour-mysterious dark past-wants to seek revenge-I am heavily attracted to you but need to push you away-cold but you are mine, kind of guy. Take your time, and read the whole sentence above a few times. Confused? Mind boggled? That’s what you’ll expect to be (10 times more) once done with the book. By the end of it, it is hard to say whether the book is an angsty chemistry-charged romance, a revenge story or a mystery novel with a sudden (and not really required) (oooh, gasp) twist. Simply put, Ana Huang does her best to squeeze out every single one of the ‘cliched’ tropes into the books of all her series, and sad to say people take to it with more enthusiasm than necessary. In reality, some situations depicted in the books would cause much alarm and discomfort (such as the stalking and controversial lines) as to how a man behaves.
Ali Hazelwood
If we’re talking about authors who simply love cliched tropes and repetitive characters or storylines, Ali Hazelwood is bound to come up at one point during the conversation. While she has in fact broadened her writing into fantasy, we’ll dial back to her debut and early novels, er, the Love series (assuming that is what it is known as). The Love Hypothesis, her debut novel flew off the shelves, the moment it was released—gaining social media popularity at an alarming pace and making its way into booktok as one of the most sought-after romance books.
Ali Hazelwood has a staple set of characters; the floundering female main character in STEM (who despite her absolute brilliance and perseverance, has to fall for the guy with questionable character), the ever-brooding, stormy and masculine-emanating male hero (who is usually, always a professor). There have also been recent reviews concerning her books, particularly Love, Theoretically on how the main character Elsie’s type 1 diabetes is portrayed—check out the detailed review here.
With that being said, Ali Hazelwood’s Check & Mate did receive praise for its LGBTQ+ representation, however, her general writing style across her books does not leave much to be appreciated. Producing a mass collection of books per year seems to be a similar pattern with all the writers above and pushing out as many typical tropes as they can—friends with benefits (Deep End), arranged marriage with werewolves and vampires (Bride) and so on. The characters portrayed, particularly the female characters, appear to be flimsy and tend to influence the younger generation into thinking that such behaviour or character/attitude is completely fine (when it really is not).
A few examples of questionable and er cringey lines/moments from their books:
1.
‘I’ll drain every f****** lake and ocean in the world if I have to.’
~ Ana Huang, from Twisted Love
To provide further context, the main female character is completely distraught and traumatised about an incident that occurred in her childhood concerning the lake behind her house, and this is the reply of her lover towards her trauma. First of all, do you have any idea how insane this is going to sound out loud?
2.
“Thank you for this baby,” she says from the backseat. “He’s beautiful”. I laugh.”You’re responsible for the beautiful part, Rachel. The only thing he got from me was his balls.” She laughs. She laughs hard. “Oh my god I know,” she says. “They are so big”. We laugh at our son’s big balls.
~ Colleen Hoover, from Ugly Love
This, frankly, does not require any explanation.
3.
‘He could fit her entire breast in his mouth. All of it.’
~ Ali Hazelwood, from The Love Hypothesis
This, does not as well.
4.
“I sit up and reach for the orange juice, drinking it down too quickly. It’s delicious, ice cold, and it makes my mouth a much better place.”
~ E.L.James, from Fifty Shades of Grey
A weird, descriptive manner of writing?
5.
“When he was wiping that cow shit on me, it was quite possibly the most turned-on I have ever been.”
~ Colleen Hoover, from It Ends With Us
Woah, might be best to reel it in and think before you say something that may imprint on someone’s memory and cause unnecessary distress. For further context, this was one of the letters Lily wrote to Ellen Degeneres by the way. (Why, we’ll never know.)
Indeed there are many more lines that are not deemed worthy and leave much to question the quality of writing of all these authors that unfortunately (or fortunately, for you) Echo does not have the privilege to share due to how uncensored most of those are.
Before coming to any conclusion, it is best to realise that romance novels are enjoyable, and oh, who doesn’t love an adorable hunk of a man sweeping you off your feet? But, you can enjoy romance novels where the writing, plot and characters are well thought of and written well. In the end, it may boil down to personal preference, however, do take note that bad writing is very much different from a disappointing story—you may not have enjoyed how the story evolved or how it ended (basically not have agreed with how the story turned out), but you may have respected their writing style.
There is also a concern on how early and how much teenagers are exposed to, due to deceiving book covers or synopses. Parents ought to be wary and careful on what books are being bought, borrowed or received by their children, particularly those still in their pre-teens. Some young adult books or romance novels are fairly tame (Ask Amy Green, To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before, All American Girl), however, there are those that have not been marketed in the right manner (Icebreaker, The Spanish Love Deception).
In the end, many might not agree with this, but reading can be enjoyable and learning as well. You don’t need to shut off your brain completely—there is always something to absorb and understand. If there were more responsible readers, rather than those just skimming through and hoping for an upsurge in popularity in social media, books such as these might even cease to exist. Well, one can only hope!
Written by: Alishbah & Poorani
Edited by: Tisyha
