by Shareen
Categorizing
books is always a challenge - no matter what the genre. A book which has a
little romance, a little mystery, maybe some horrifying event or series of
events and African-American characters is a what? A multi-cultural romantic
horror story? Threw in some religious expressions and it becomes an
inspirational multi-cultural romantic horror story. I would never like to be the
bookstore person who has to place this book on just the right shelf!
I
think that sometimes too much emphasis and importance is attached to this
business of categorization. The really important thing is that books be
presented in a way that makes it easy for the persons who are most likely to
want to read those books, to find them. I like reading Arabesque novels. And I
like being able to walk into a bookstore and finding them all together in one
place, so that I can quickly select what I want and be on my way. If
categorizing these stories as multi-cultural romances achieves this objective
then so be it.
Then
of course I start to think about why it is that I like Arabesque novels. Am I so
shallow that I will read and love these books just because the main players are
my color? I know this is not so, because I have read some of these stories
which I didn't enjoy - I just don't talk about them. And some of my favourite
authors do not write Arabesque novels. For example, I count Sandra Brown and
Judith McNaught among my favorites.
The
truth of the matter is that for many years I only read stories of slim (tall and
petite), Caucasian women with various shades of blue or green eyes and long
flowing blonde hair. You read that kind of thing too often and read nothing else
and your idea of beauty begins to be informed by what you read. Then you live in
a country where 90% of the population is black and you figure there are no
beautiful women in your country (which by the way does have some exceptionally
beautiful women) because they sure don't have blue eyes and blonde hair!
So
the first Arabesque novel was mind blowing for me. It was great! A story about
people who looked like me and who were still considered beautiful and who fell
in love and had romance and everything - just like the white folks! Even if the
story had NOTHING peculiar to supposed "black culture" the mere fact
that the people looked like me made it worthwhile. And after that I was hooked.
(Mind you I had a great start. With books like TONIGHT AND
FOREVER by Brenda
Francis and FOREVER YOURS by Francis Ray, I could have been pink and I would
have been hooked!)
And
I think that's the deal. For some people the novel is more than the story.
Sometimes it's a validation of who you are and what you believe. It's a
vindication of your own life's experiences. I never felt that way about
Harlequin romances - which I used to read avidly. They were just enjoyable
stories. And that connection may have something to do with why a book that
someone else dislikes or finds insipid or unrealistic, I might find absolutely
perfect. That's why there are novels which one person will love and another
person will hate. And basically we have to accept that one person's opinion is
just that .... one person's opinion. And treat that opinion as such.
I
love Arabesque novels. I don't much care how they are categorized as long as I
can find them easily when I go to the bookstore. And I don't much care whether
or not a specific individual likes the same books I do, as long as they are
willing to respect my right to a difference of opinion and the validity of that
opinion in the same way I will respect theirs. Respect is what I think was
missing in that article which started this uproar. The critic is entitled to his
or her opinion, however harsh. But I believe that in expressing that opinion it
is only right that some degree of respect also be shown.