While one has always despised the snide and derogatory epithet, chicklit, and use of it, it is currently certainly much in use to describe a certain genre, and the genre is about lives of young women and their concerns and occupations, quite as real as those of males of older and cynical, sceptical age. One might like the genre and reconise its being based in reality of the lives of young women, and the genuineness of the writings that fall in this generally. Most of the books in the genre are about young romance, wistful young women, and while once they were about women cruising or attempting to occupy themselves at homes, own or others', now it is about work and balancing lives, and quite often about shopping, fashion, etc, something women aren't allowed to neglect without being thoroughly abused by society generally.
It is disconcerting though, to find a book called The Last Season, written supposedly by a male and not an adolescent young woman attending a writing course in a freshmen seminar at a college and encouraged by her professor to publish it because he thought it was good enough to be published and will sell well, and then read it and find it can only be described as chicklit - albeit with a background of looming WWII, holocaust and all. But so it is, albeit written grippingly enough, but then perhaps the gripping is due to the background. The writing level though does make one suspect it is written by a teenager, researching history and picking a background that would provide glamour, horror and adventure, to add a romance and voila, perfect confection. If only the writing were a bit more polished, thinking that went into this a bit more thourough!
Still, quite enjoyable.
