11-11-2008, 11:28 AM
Monique Devereaux Wrote:Maisonvivante, why would you include Flowers in the Attic on this list but remove The Thirteenth Tale? Your own rule states gothic ROMANCES only. I'd hardly call Flowers in the Attic a romance no matter which way you look at it. At least The Thirteenth Tale has a romantic subplot as strong as any in Jane Eyre or any other classic, it's just not the thrust of the entire book.
Hi, Monique--no offense meant--I just had to make some rapid judgment calls based on what I knew about the various books. You said it was "Gothic, not Gothic Romance," so I excluded it solely on that count. If you feel "The Thirteenth Tale" should be included, we'll definitely re-add it to the list. I haven't read it yet, and I wasn't sure whether there was a romance plot in it.
I included "Flowers in the Attic" because--gulp--the romance between Cathy and her brother is a huge part of the story and spans across the other novels as well. It takes the idea of a "dark romance" (traditional to gothics) and makes it about as "dark" as it comes: incest. Likewise, Cathy has other affairs that are similarly gothic in tone--like her mother's husband, Bart, the dark, mysterious, brooding guy who seems directly descended from Mr. Rochester. Andrews' writing is pretty bad, but she did turn elements of the Gothic romance on their head in ways that were quite inventive. In the end, I can't characterize her books as mysteries or horror (despite where bookstores shelve them). They are, in essence, gothic romances; in fact, a prominent doomed romance is a major part of the Andrews' formula, including all the books written by the ghostwriter. If you disagree, feel free to share your thinking with me.
As for "The Thirteenth Tale," if you want to include it, I think that would make it #39.
