Do you consider the book to be Chick Lit?

[bookowlie]

Well...that's a tricky one. I guess by defining the book as chick lit, we may be limiting the possibilities of the book.The danger of calling the book a chic lit lies in the fact that, the book at once, is implicitly recommended for only a female reading audience. However, when we look at themes raised by the book :

• Living in close communion with Nature, helping an individual to reinvent, rediscover and rejuvenate themselves.

• The Lessons of fish flying becoming life lessons to be learnt with patience, practiced with perseverance, and adapted to the changing currents of life.

• The need for gender neutrality and unlearning of gender stereotypes, all appeal to humanity in general.

The loss of a child , conflict with parents , juggling family and work are problems faced by many individuals ( irrespective of male or female ) in the modern world.

Good points! The funny thing is I thought the story seemed gender-neutral at times in the sense of a buddy type of novel. There are movies and books that feature men as buddies - having fun, bonding over a shared interest, giving support, etc. However, once a book features women, it ususally gets that "chick lit" label.

[Jeyasivananth]

It is an interesting question. Just because the main characters in a book are male, we don't assume that only men will read it, so why do we make the opposite assumption with books about women? I guess we still have this idea that the default character is a male (probably white and straight, too).

Exactly! I too don't understand the need to define the book thus.The history of literature shows books have mostly been androcentric written with male protagonists, voicing male opinions. However, has there been a need to define them as lads-lit or by such name. The success of any book lies in its ability to rise above these narrow compartmentalization and appeal universally to all readers and I honestly think in its essence and message the book does achieve that!!

[P0tt3ry]

Well...that's a tricky one. I guess by defining the book as chick lit, we may be limiting the possibilities of the book.The danger of calling the book a chic lit lies in the fact that, the book at once, is implicitly recommended for only a female reading audience. However, when we look at themes raised by the book :

• Living in close communion with Nature, helping an individual to reinvent, rediscover and rejuvenate themselves.

• The Lessons of fish flying becoming life lessons to be learnt with patience, practiced with perseverance, and adapted to the changing currents of life.

• The need for gender neutrality and unlearning of gender stereotypes, all appeal to humanity in general.

The loss of a child , conflict with parents , juggling family and work are problems faced by many individuals ( irrespective of male or female ) in the modern world.

You didn't leave me much to say as I agree with your conclusions. Chic Lit is a category that many consider light reading of interest to woman only. Think about how men will take their female friends to a Chic Flick, and behave as if they are doing them a big favor by sitting through a girl movie. Applying the Chic Lit classification to a book like this one does the author a disservice.

[Jeyasivananth]

Well...that's a tricky one. I guess by defining the book as chick lit, we may be limiting the possibilities of the book.The danger of calling the book a chic lit lies in the fact that, the book at once, is implicitly recommended for only a female reading audience. However, when we look at themes raised by the book :

• Living in close communion with Nature, helping an individual to reinvent, rediscover and rejuvenate themselves.

• The Lessons of fish flying becoming life lessons to be learnt with patience, practiced with perseverance, and adapted to the changing currents of life.

• The need for gender neutrality and unlearning of gender stereotypes, all appeal to humanity in general.

The loss of a child , conflict with parents , juggling family and work are problems faced by many individuals ( irrespective of male or female ) in the modern world.

You didn't leave me much to say as I agree with your conclusions. Chic Lit is a category that many consider light reading of interest to woman only. Think about how men will take their female friends to a Chic Flick, and behave as if they are doing them a big favor by sitting through a girl movie. Applying the Chic Lit classification to a book like this one does the author a disservice.

Yes , I totally agree with you ...especially, since the book has so much to offer, in terms of ways to escape the modern maladies of living as an island. It strongly asks us to make a change, stop limiting ourselves to cyber interactions and resuscitate our dwindling interactions with Nature and fellow human beings.

[mingyums]

Very interesting question! Personally, I don't find the 'chick lit' label offensive, I once had a lengthy discussion with a literature professor about the definition of chick lit and how much works by Austen fit the term. However, I do agree that the industry/media in general seem to look down on books that are put under this category (thought 'women's contemporary fiction' was a great idea by the way!).

[bookowlie]

Well...that's a tricky one. I guess by defining the book as chick lit, we may be limiting the possibilities of the book.The danger of calling the book a chic lit lies in the fact that, the book at once, is implicitly recommended for only a female reading audience. However, when we look at themes raised by the book :

• Living in close communion with Nature, helping an individual to reinvent, rediscover and rejuvenate themselves.

• The Lessons of fish flying becoming life lessons to be learnt with patience, practiced with perseverance, and adapted to the changing currents of life.

• The need for gender neutrality and unlearning of gender stereotypes, all appeal to humanity in general.

The loss of a child , conflict with parents , juggling family and work are problems faced by many individuals ( irrespective of male or female ) in the modern world.

You didn't leave me much to say as I agree with your conclusions. Chic Lit is a category that many consider light reading of interest to woman only. Think about how men will take their female friends to a Chic Flick, and behave as if they are doing them a big favor by sitting through a girl movie. Applying the Chic Lit classification to a book like this one does the author a disservice.

The Chick Lit classification definitely keeps an author from reaching a wider audience since men automatically assume those books would be of no interest to them.

[CommMayo]

I think women have just gotten so used to the status-quo being male, that anything that isn't all male, all the time gets a special status. While we are over 50% of the population, we are still seen as a minority in movies, books, TV, government, management, etc. We think nothing of picking up a book or watching a movie with an all male cast because society tells us that it is normal.

[eBookreviewer]

I totally agree, since this book can be considered as contemporary fiction of women.

[innah96]

Perhaps the term is a bit offensive, but do you consider the Reel Sisters to be Chick Lit?

I think there's maybe a bit more going on in the narrative that opens up it's genre slightly, but it does hit all the chick lit tropes!

I'm a guy and I found it reasonably enjoyable anyway!

I haven't read the book, but I wanted to point out that for me, Chick Lit doesn't associate me on anything offensive. I wonder why you would think it might be offensive for some people?
Just curious

[CommMayo]

Chick lit is generally referred to as a genre for woman that is light-hearted and humorous. It can be synonymous with fluffy, vapid, or romantic trade paperbacks. The average man wouldn't be caught dead reading a chick lit book. Bridget Jones's Diary or The Notebook would be considered chick lit while Memoriors of a Geisha or The Joy Luck Club would fall more into the contemporary women's literature category.

[bookowlie]

Yes, fluffy and vapid are good words to describe the stereotype of a chick lit book. I think some publishers market a book as chick lit, thinking they will sell more copies. They will also use a sexy cover for these books. Jennifer Weiner's early books are a good example. I always thought she was a good writer and her books shouldn't have been considered chick lit. Still, someone decided to put a sexy cover on her early books, even though the cover didn't reflect the plot.

[Kieran_Obrien]

Perhaps the term is a bit offensive, but do you consider the Reel Sisters to be Chick Lit?

I think there's maybe a bit more going on in the narrative that opens up it's genre slightly, but it does hit all the chick lit tropes!

I'm a guy and I found it reasonably enjoyable anyway!

I haven't read the book, but I wanted to point out that for me, Chick Lit doesn't associate me on anything offensive. I wonder why you would think it might be offensive for some people?
Just curious

When I began the thread I didn't know too much about Chick Lit so I just wanted to be careful; someone might take issue with the term itself (women = chicks has always sounded funny to me) or perhaps the term was outdated in a world where feminism is on the rise!

After reading the thread though it seems to me that chick lit is just as much a marketing style as much as it is a genre.

[NL Hartje]

I'm a woman. I'm a strong, opinionated woman. But, this is definitely chick-lit!

[SparklesonPages]

I agree this book could be considered chick lit or the more modern term, "women's contemporary fiction." The main characters are a bunch of female friends and have girls-only get-togethers that are usually very light-hearted. I can see why an author might not want to market a book as chick lit since the genre is not usually taken seriously. Many readers look down on chick lit and don't want to read a book if it's labelled as such.

I think that " women's contemporary fiction" is more along the lines of where "The Reel Sisters" story goes. Bonus , it sounds a tad better as well

[Kieran_Obrien]

"Women's contemporary fiction" kinda just sounds like a more fancy way of saying chick lit to me but how we call things changes our perspective on it, and I prefer the term to chick lit!