reading a romance novel where the protagonist feels the need to stop and inform that audience that it's okay for her, a 27 year old, to hook up with a 31 year old because despite the age difference both of their brains are fully developed. the Discourse really has done incalculable damage.
that's...they're adults 4 years apart, who on Earth would think there's any sort of meaningful age gap
This is breathtaking
#you know those posts that are like. pulling up a small weed and discovering it's attached to a root system that wraps around the sewer line.#this is one of those.
Okay so, I really hate to be "that person" but I find it funny how this thread starts with people making fun of the author for being so careful with the age gap thing then ends with people dogpiling and bashing her for engaging with a review.
Is that bad? Yes, she shouldn't have done that. But I've looked into more reviews under the book and there's also some people pointing out that this was her debut novel and she wasn't super aware about how serious this reader/author separation is. Since people brought it up to her, she has never done that again. And if you look at her twitter, if you weren't aware at the time she subtweeted that review (2020-2023) Armenia was getting attacked by Azerbaijan, kids younger than me were dying (born 2002 or later) and in the end, the armenian people of the nagorno-karabakh region have been forcibly displaced from their homes, burning their own houses as they left because they didn’t want to leave their houses to the people who attacked and killed them over a poorly situated piece of land.
So while, don't get me wrong, it was VERY UNPROFESSIONAL of her to do that, I can also understand how at the time, seeing a negative review of her debut novel that basically says "this was too heavy for me, when I read a romcom I want to forget the cruelty of the world and feel happy" must have felt like a slap to the face and interpreted very wrongly. Like yes sure, we also would love to forget the world while our people are actively dying because everyone surrounding us (except georgia) wants to kill us! Again, I totally understand the reviewer and in fact- I have the same sentiment: I do mainly read romcoms because I want to forget the world for a few hours. But I can ALSO understand that this armenian author, who has finally had her debut novel and has been trying to make Armenia more visible her whole life, sees a review like that at a very bad time and in a spur of pure recklessness subtweets the review.
So I don't know, I find it ironic how this thread starts with "lol come on, 4 year age gap? The author is too careful" then ends with "dumbass author doesn't know that she shouldn't engage with the reviews of her book on goodreads!!! Ugh. Wow, the bar is SO low. Don't ever doubt yourselves guys! If a published author can be so trash then we always stand a chance!" (This isn't in this specific reblog, but I've seen comments/reblogs like this under the post.) Like can we please normalize people making mistakes and not getting pummeled for it? Made fun of for being too careful then shit on for not being careful enough in a span of two to four reblogs.
And just for the record, no I haven’t read her book and I don't think I will because like I said, it doesn't seem like my cup of tea and I 100% understand the reviewer. Like honestly who knows, maybe it IS a bad book. (My point isn't to defend the book djehdyhz) My problem is how fast we are cancelling an author from a minority because god forbid women get emotional about anything ever and make stupid ass mistakes. Regardless please try to look at the context of things before blindly joining the echo-chamber.
Some cool links if you want to educate yourself:
