|| Problematic Books: How Do We Even Go About These Things? ||



If the book community was only allowed one favorite word, I feel like it would be "problematic." Maybe "cake," or "free-books," (of course that's one word hUSH) but those definitely don't get tossed around as much as problematic does. And seriously, it's everywhere. If a book exists, there's probably a review calling it out on something, branding it as "problematic," and calling for its immediate acquaintance with a wood chipper. 

(In all honestly though, that Supernatural episode where the guy went through one was scarring.)

The one downfall to the book comm, fabulous as we all are, is that we're angry little buggers who believe strongly in what is and is not okay. And don't get me wrong, that can be great, sometimes! It's certainly helped me cut down marginally on my tbr pile and made it easier for me to know which books contain things that I'm just not really keen to read about. 

But when is it too much? And y'know... just exactly how ugly are we allowed to get?

Personally, I think boycotting a book and educating others about the contents within is a-okay. I find nothing wrong with making personal decisions about what one wants to read, and I think it's definitely a good think to talk about the parts that we find harmful or upsetting in literature. 

But I think there's a very fine line between open discussion/education, and taking things too far. 

And by taking things too far, I mean:

  • arguing with someone because you disagree with their opinion
  • it really just sounds like this 
  • name-calling/use of slurs
  • harassment of people who choose to read a book
  • personally sending authors your negative reviews 
  • attending book events only to be disruptive + crude to to the author 
  • seriously though
  • people are doing that now

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It's amazing how violent I've seen people get over books lately. If there's problematic content anywhere within a book, it almost immediately incites a cross-fire of insults and vicious arguments. On the one hand, I understand that it's upsetting to have books that still have homophobic, racist, and more, content in them. It pisses me off, too. But the sad reality of things is that most books aren't going to be perfect. And spending time getting angry at people merely for choosing to pick up a book has to be exhausting, don't you think? 

I just feel like there's such a better way to go about things than getting so angry at each other. There's a way to educate people on important topics without shouting at them, or being rude. As I saw the lovely Cait put it in her ACOWAR review in reference to another book:
"Most of the bloggers I follow who are strong advocates for diversity gave it five stars for its diversity despite what I found to be hurtful ableism. It never once crossed my mind to disown them as 'wrong,' because I know rating books is complex and reflects our own individual experience with a story." 

And I suppose that's my whole little thing I'm trying to get across here. Reading problematic books, if you acknowledge that they're harmful to others, is okay. Speaking out about things you believe in and disagree with is okay. Educating others about things is okay. But fighting somebody because they have a different opinion from you is not








I don't know, folks. Posting things like this always make me nervous. What are your thoughts on problematic books and how to deal with them? Have you ever been called out for reading something? Or, rather, have you called someone out on reading a book?



Comments

  1. thank you for writing this! i agree, while educating and spreading the word is important, some people just take it too far like come to cons only to create chaos and attacking people who read the book. i'm fine with people sending their reviews to the author, as long as the review does not personally attacking the authors. tbh i saw a lot of people who claims to be advocate of diversity rate books that problematic to others 5 stars, but when it comes to books they find problematic and others rate it 5 stars, they will attack it. again, harmful representation and stories are dangerous, but i think it comes back again on how people preceive the story and how you spread the word to other readers and author.

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    1. yes, yes, yes!
      i think sending reviews to authors is fine, so long as they're not overtly negative or harmful. or when publishers/authors themselves ask for feedback, regardless of what your rating was or what you said. but purposefully sending something to authors that is mean and harmful is just such a big NO.
      there's so much hypocrisy in the book community sometimes that it boggles my mind. i'll see people call out others for liking books with problematic relationships, when one of their five-star favorites features an abusive pairing. like ???
      xx a

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  2. Though I haven't encountered this problem, I have seen it from a distance whether it's with a book or movie/show. Some people can get very aggressive about their thoughts/opinions and it can be quite terrifying. o-o But yeah, I totally agree with you!

    I think we should all be one happy book fam with various thoughts and opinions (plus dauntless cake). Who's with me? ;)

    xx Mackenzie

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    1. i'm glad you haven't encountered this personally! it's definitely not a fun time, at all. :P
      that sounds perfect to me!! (so long as there's a limitless amount of that cake ;) )
      xx a

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  3. I think you pretty much covered how I feel about problematic books/calling out problematic things. It is absolutely very important to call out problems with books. I feel like every single book ever written could be considered problematic because every single person who reads it is different from the next. I don't think polarizing and becoming extremely divided about these things is ever the answer. That only seems to cause more problems and hurt circling the internet. If I find a book to be hurtful, I'm not going to dismiss anyone who enjoys it. We could all read the same book, but the story would remain different to each and every one of us. I have never called anyone out just for reading something, and I have never (thankfully) been called out for reading something.

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    1. ahh, i'm so glad you agree with what i wrote! (it's always nerve-wracking putting things like this on the blog) i definitely agree that division is never the answer. it only makes things 10x harder when it comes to having civilized discussions about harmful things. it's almost like doing so takes away the validity of people's own views and thoughts, which is something that should never happen tbh.
      thank you for commenting + sharing your thoughts, kris! <3
      xx a

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  4. I think this is a most excellent post and I'm so saving this link. <3 I actually am a bit terrified of the community sometimes. 0_0 I agree with you that problematic books are NOT okay and should be called out! But the level of aggression is scary...especially when these are books. And I know books can change the world, but they still are stories written by ONE person. And at the end of the day, sometimes I think "ok but why does this one author's opinion even matter?!?" XD Just ignore it and don't recommend it if it's bad.

    Every time someone praises a book I think is problematic, it makes my heart hurt. But I'm not going to harass them. And like I think there's a lot of shame-culture going on here too?? Like people are 100% more keen to just drag a blogger/author through the mud than privately talk to them about issues. That's TERRIFYING. I won a copy of Carve the Mark and put it in my weekly book haul...I had 4 anonymous hate mails for it. For just owning it. 0_0 I think the book blogging community should be a safe place -- which means we SHOULD be able to call out/discuss problematic books and ask authors/publishers to do better. But it also shouldn't descend into aggressive violent hate attacks. :/

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    1. ahh, thank you, cait! i'm so glad you liked it. ^-^
      i absolutely love your point about a book being one person's opinion! it'd be so much easier if people thought in terms like that, and realized that they could ignore just as they can ignore another person's lone view.

      that's horrible that you got hate mail, oml. the nerve of people never fails to surprise me, tbh. and i definitely wish people realized that there is somebody else on the other side of the screen, willing to have a proper discussion, and talk about why they chose to endorse said book/give it a chance.

      i think there's always room for improvement in the community, but to really get anything done, we seriously have to stop this thinking that being aggressive and beating others up about things is okay.

      thank you for commenting, cait! <3

      xx a

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  5. Yes yes yes. This is so important, because I feel like sometimes we forget that reviewing books is a very personal thing, and if someone identified with or enjoyed some aspects of a book and gave it a good rating, then what about their review is worth fighting against? I completely agree with this post. :)

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    1. reviewing books is definitely so personal, and so subjective, and i completely agree with you that fighting with somebody about their own personal feelings is fruitless. we should all just let each other be and enjoy what we enjoy.
      thanks for commenting + sharing your thoughts, jo! <3
      xx a

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  6. I completely agree! I definitely think there's a balance between educating people and criticizing someone because they're reading a book you don't like. Thanks for sharing and, as always, fabulous discussion post! <3

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    1. thank you, zoe! i'm so glad you agree, + that you liked the post. ^-^
      xx a

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  7. I sometimes think that people does not like me bc I read and love a certain book they totally dislike. :( What if I just like how problematic it is bc I can relate to it or I find good lessons from it? Gosh. These people. Ah, don't be nervous. It's your opinion. We have built our blogs because we want others to know what we think. It's up to them on how they judge it. But I don't really recommend judging with negatives. Just be open-minded.

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    1. ooh, i like that point a lot, about finding good lessons from problematic books! i think there's a lot of room to learn with books that might not be the best, and that just goes to show another reason why we shouldn't question people's ratings/reviews.
      thank you for stopping by and sharing your thoughts, yani! i appreciate it so much. <3
      xx a

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