I feel like I struggle with this in all facets, especially as I love fantasy books and it tends to make me feel more down about my real, mundane life, but I feel like I notice the most impact when it comes to relationships.
This isn’t just my current one, but also great relationships I’ve had in the past that ended amicably. I’m in a great relationship now. He’s loving, caring, attentive, romantic, handsome, hard-working, etc etc. But I feel like *every* time I read a romance novel (especially one written by a woman), it makes me look at all of my relationships in a new light in my head. No one is freaking perfect and lord knows I’m far from it, but a lot of the male love interests I’ve read about in novels are portrayed to perfection with the perfect amount of emotional intelligence that just no real person has.
I don’t know. I love my current relationship and I’m very serious about it, but I don’t love how romance books always ignites this insanely unachievable hopelessly romantic side of me. Do I just have to stop reading completely lol? Is anyone else like this? What can I do?
by moonrox14
3 Comments
Well as much as I’d love for a hot Italian old money mobster to be madly in love and take me to Sicily and buy me all the clothes and shoes I could ever dream of, I realize this is not realistic or logical. I prefer my real guy at home that takes the garbage out, watches movies on the couch in sweats with me, and gives me a back rubs. Real life is way more stable and peaceful.
That’s funny. This is the exact plot of Madame Bovary.
Don’t look up how it ends, though.
I feel like any “perfect” relationship or character in a story will always be flawed in at least one aspect, namely it being fiction (not real).
The fact that your real life relationship is something that is felt by two others, and is non-theoretical is what gives it so much more value.
This isn’t to say fiction doesn’t have value, but most things being equal, I think real shit holds more significance. Just my 2 cents.