Books--the good, the bad, and the ugly

I started reading House of Sand and Fog sometime last year, and returned it to the library without finishing it. I have a problem in literature--I can't enjoy books where I can't relate to/like at least one of the characters. (I also hate books where the characters are flat/ one-dimensional, either "all good" or "all bad." This is a problem in more published books than really should happen.)

I'm not saying that I dislike books with unlikable characters--Gone With the Wind is one of my favorite books, and it has one of the most famous dislike-able characters in all of Western canon. But Scarlett shows growth and maturation throughout the novel, which is what makes it compelling. It doesn't make her suddenly a great person at the end of the book, but it does give the novel depth.

And speaking of depth, let me use this time to once again profess my hatred of Tender is the Night, and, more generally, F. Scott Fitzgerald. In my opinion, there are two types of bad male writers in the world: those who write women as if they (women) were men, and those who write women as if they (women) were crazy. Some male writers write women brilliantly. I still find John Irving's A Widow for One Year to be one of the best portrayals of adult women and female friendship. Some female writers write men badly, so at least we're all even. And I'm not saying that a woman is always going to write women right, or a man will write men brilliantly, but, the authorial saying is, write what you know. I hate Tender is the Night because of the terrible characterizations and dialogue. (Actually, I think all of his characters suck, and that he plagiarized from his own wife while he gaslit her, and that there isn't much redeemable about him other than most people have read The Great Gatsby or have at least seen the movie, thereby giving him credit for cocktail party fodder at the very least.)

So where was I? Oh, yes. I know that House of Sand and Fog is a favorite of many people, but I just can't stand it. It's a "thud book," meaning that every so often, I feel the need to throw it across the room because of a character's stupidity. I hate books where characters know that what they're doing is wrong, but they persist in doing it. (Come to think of it, I hate that in real life, too. Pisses me off.) And, more than that, I hate it when characters are torn apart because of stupid misunderstandings that could be easily solved with a simple statement by one of the characters. (This is rampant in romance novels.) Examples: "It wasn't me who you saw with your brother." "I heard you make the bet." "I never said that--that was your sister." "I was in prison once, and here's the story about that..."

I understand that real life is complicated, and that romance is fraught with misunderstandings and everyday interactions have mix-ups at every turn. But that's why I read fiction--to escape real life!