Review/ recenzija: Audrey Carlan: Calendar Girl: January, February, March/ Djevojka na mjesec dana: Sije�anj, Velja�a, O�ujak
Recenzija na hrvatskom nalazi se ispod recenzije na engleskom ??
Today I'm gonna be writing about the first three novels in Calendar Girl series: January, February and March. The whole series was published in 2015, but so far I've finished only these three instalments.
This series will put on test your thoughts about love, sex and responsibility. I'm sooo glad I've got the opportunity to read this. It made me stay awake late a few nights in a row, but finally, I can share my thoughts.
Mia is faced with an awful choice: she has to work as high-price escort (sex is optional) to make a million dollars that would save her father's life. If not, he dies. So there's actually no other option for her than to accept.
The first three novels in this series give us an insight into her life with the first three of her clients.
Do not start this series by thinking you'll find some nice and sweet love story that will melt your heart. This is not about a heroine who will make great sacrifices through the first 3 of her months doing what she has to do. Nope, she'll enjoy the hell out of herself. After reading the description of the first novel on Goodreads, I had to prepare myself for a character that would reveal its ARC through sex. And a lot of sex with different men, rarely means much love.
I love when a book challenges me. In these three novels the greatest challenge was not to visualize the heroine in front of me and use something big to smack her in the head. I love to read novels written in first POV because when I read stuff like "I did, I felt, it happened to me" I can relate with the character in a more profound way. But this time it was hard, because I couldn't, for the heart of me, relate with any of her doings or any of her choices. I have nothing in common with this girl. And not only that, but, if Mia were a real person, I don't know if I could stand her life choices and self-blinding excuses. That is how much I don't like her as a person. On the other hand, it was very interesting to read about her because she's so different. Her ARC is designed to be changed in the deepest way possible (I hope so!), and there are multiple ways to do that and all of them would be fascinating to read about.
For now, her behavior it's a great example of the way a woman should not live her life, and that claim has nothing to do with her job and everything to do with the way she conducts.
What I see as the most problematic part of these three novels (especially the first two), and the one that makes me claim it would make some readers decide not to read them, is the obvious sexism. Every woman in these novels that presents some kind of threat to Mia is described as interested in only two things: money and sex, in other words, opportunistic to the core. And every other one is delighted with the Mia's current career. Mia herself constantly objectifies men and finds herself sexually attracted to almost every one of them. On the other hand, the physical characteristics of male characters are the ones that provoke other kind of problem. Unlike women, they are ment to be- can you guess?- perfect.
When I said I found these novels challenging, I was also talking about a list of things I expect to change and they originate from the problematic part I've written about in the paragraph above. The first one of them is Mia's enthusiasm with the new 'job'- does her conduct mean the author wants to present women working as escort as a good thing? Even if so, that doesn't bother me so much as the other thing, because escorts are not required to have sex with clients. What bothers me is that the girl we're talking about right now wants to have sex with them for the reasons I've already mentioned. I hope her character changes enough to realize that what she does speaks badly not only about her, but about the whole womankind. Furthermore, if the author keeps insisting in making every male character look like those in the first three novels did, I'll be the first one to advice you not to read this series anymore. The same will happen if we don't get to see the characters that will think what Mia does is appalling and humiliating and will try to prove not everything in life is about sex. If we get to see this troublesome situations handled, that will be a big step for Mia's character and will say a lot about the author's skill to develop her characters.
These novels made me feel so many conflicted emotions in so little time, and had left me with a million questions. Anyway, if we get to see Mia change for the better and realize it's not about her career, but about her actions, this series could be a story we could learn a lot from.
Until we read the sequels, I'm here for your thoughts, likes and dislikes. Comment bellow.
Rose ??
Danas bih vam �eljela predstaviti roman koji je na policama na�ih knji�ara mogu�e na�i svega tek nekoliko tjedana. Djevojka na mjesec dana: Sije�anj, Velja�a, O�ujak dolazi nam iz Lumena, a meni ju je poklonila jedna moja draga �itateljica.
Ovaj roman malo �e se poigrati va�im �ivcima te izazvati va�e stavove o ljubavi, seksu i odgovornosti. Zaista mi je drago �to sam ga imala priliku recenzirati jer je ispao zaista neo�ekivana avantura koja me poticala na �ivopisnu unutarnju raspravu ovih dana kad sam je �itala.
Mia je suo�ena s groznim izborom: raditi kao eskort dama godinu dana (seks nije obavezan) i zaraditi milijun dolara koliko treba da spasi oca, ili ne zaraditi novac i gledati kako joj otac stradava.
Svjesna da joj preostaje samo jedan izlaz, ona prihva�a posao.
U ovom romanu podijeljenom na prva tri mjeseca koja provodi zaposlena kao ekskluzivna eskort dama, upoznajemo Mijina prva tri klijenta.
Ton ovog romana postavljen je na prvoj njegovoj stranici, �to odmah pobija pretpostavke koje smo si mo�da stvorili prije �itanja. Ovo nije sladak pekmezasti ljubavni roman. Ovdje �emo sresti likove �ije pona�anje poti�e pitanja o njihovim moralnim vrijednostima.
Kad sam pro�itala opis knjige na koricama, o tome da heroinapristaje biti eskort dama dvanaest razli�itih mu�karaca, prvo �to sam napravila je bilo upozoriti samu sebe neka o�ekujem roman koji �e likov karakter razvijati kroz seks. A puno seksa s razli�itim ljudima rijetko kad pretpostavlja postojanje ljubavi.
Obo�avam kad mi knjiga postavlja izazove. U ovom romanu izazov je definitivno bio ne vizualizirati Miu pred sobom i raspaliti je ne�ime po glavi, �to je bilo izuzetno te�ko kad se apsolutno ni s jednim njenim postupkom ne sla�em. Razlog zbog kojeg vi�e volim knjige pisane u prvom licu je taj �to, kad neprestano �itam "ja sam osje�ala, ja sam napravila, meni se dogodilo", lako se mogu poistovjetiti s likom te tako puno bolje uroniti u pri�u. U ovom slu�aju, morala sam se u neku ruku stopiti s likom s kojim nemam ni�ta zajedni�ko. I ne samo to, kad bi Mija bila osoba od krvi i mesa, ne znam bih li mogla trpjeti njezine �ivotne stavove i samozasljepljuju�a opravdanja- evo, toliko mi se kao osoba ne svi�a. S druge strane, izuzetno mi ju je zanimljivo promatrati ba� zato jer je druga�ija. Njezin karakter stvoren je takav da se mora razvijati, a to na sre�u mo�e u nekoliko razli�itih smjerova i sve do jednoga bi bilo interesantno pratiti.
Za sada je njeno pona�anje primjer onoga kako �ena ne bi trebala �ivjeti �ivot i to nema nikakve veze s time �to radi, a sve veze ima s onim kako se pona�a.
Ono �to smatram najproblemati�nijim u ovom romanu (pogotovo prva dva dijela) i za koje bih tvrdila da bi moglo odbijati �itatelje je o�igledan seksizam. Sve �ene u ovom romanu koje su Mijina "konkurencija" opisane su kao praznoglave oportunisti�ke fufe koje zanimaju samo seks i novac. One koje nisu konkurencija su odu�evljene njenom karijerom (primjera ima koliko �elite). Sama Mia objektivizira mu�karce u uznemiruju�oj mjeri. Seksualno se napaljuje na gotovo svakog mu�karca kojeg vidi. S druge strane, tu zabrinjavaju fizi�ke karakteristike mu�kih likova, koji bi trebali biti, poga�ate, svi totalna suprotnost �enama- savr�eni.
Ono �to smatram najproblemati�nijim u ovom romanu (pogotovo prva dva dijela) i za koje bih tvrdila da bi moglo odbijati �itatelje je o�igledan seksizam. Sve �ene u ovom romanu koje su Mijina "konkurencija" opisane su kao praznoglave oportunisti�ke fufe koje zanimaju samo seks i novac. One koje nisu konkurencija su odu�evljene njenom karijerom (primjera ima koliko �elite). Sama Mia objektivizira mu�karce u uznemiruju�oj mjeri. Seksualno se napaljuje na gotovo svakog mu�karca kojeg vidi. S druge strane, tu zabrinjavaju fizi�ke karakteristike mu�kih likova, koji bi trebali biti, poga�ate, svi totalna suprotnost �enama- savr�eni.
Kad sam spomenula da mi ovaj roman predstavlja izazov, govorila sam i o tome kako premi�ljam o budu�im nastavcima. Obi�no to ne radim, ali ovaj puta sam morala. Tu postoje neke to�ke pred kojima doslovno ne bih mogla zatvoriti o�i, a sve izviru iz problema koji sam ranije navela. Prva od njih je Mijino odu�evljenje svojim poslom- zna�i li to da autorica opravdava karijeru eskort djevojke kao ne�to dobro? Ako ve� i da- to nije ono �to me najvi�e mu�i jer s time da na kraju krajeva, eskort djevojke nisu du�ne spavati s klijentom. Problem je u tome da eskort djevojka u ovoj knjizi to �eli. Nadam se da �e se lik promijeniti dovoljno da uvidi kako je ono �to radi poni�avaju�e ne samo za nju, nego cijeli �enski rod. Nadalje, ako autorica bude inzistirala na shemi mu�kih likova kakvi su predstavljeni na dosada�njim stranicama, istog trenutka �u serijal proglasiti ne�im �to nije vrijedno �itati. Isto �e se dogoditi ne sretnemo li kakvog lika koji �e njezinu 'karijeru' smatrati groznim, poni�avaju�im iskustvom i koja �e napokon skrenuti pa�nju s toga kako je sve u �ivotu prilika za seks. Ako se te slabe to�ke rije�e u daljnjim nastavcima, bit �e to jedan veliki plus koji �e pokazati razvoj lika, a time i autori�ine sposobnosti.
Ova knjiga o meni je izazvala vi�e podijeljenih osje�aja nego ikoja druga u posljednje vrijeme, i ostavila me s puno pitanja, pitanja, pitanja...Imam ih toliko, a tek trebam do�ekati ostale dijelove serijala. U svakom slu�aju, mislim da �e, ako Mia do�ivi preobrazbu kakvu vjerujem da bi trebala i uvidi da nije problem u njenoj karijeri nego u njenom mentalnom sklopu koji opravdava njezina i tu�a seksisti�ka pona�anja, ovaj serijal biti odli�na pri�a koja nas mo�e zaista puno nau�iti.
Dok �ekamo Travanj, Svibanj i Lipanj, slu�am va�a mi�ljenja, pritu�be i pohvale. Komentirajte ??
Rose ??
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